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In and Out of Ithaca. 



A DKSCRIPTIOK OF THE VII.LAGE, THE SURROUNDING SCENERY, 
AND CORNELL UNIVERSITY, 



C. H. THURBER 



ILLUSTRATED. 




ithaca, n. y. 

Andrus & Church. 

1887. 



Copyright, 1886, 
By Andrus & Church. 



■^ ~r 



The pages that follow have been prepared in the belief 
that it would be a source of gratification to many to be able 
to procure in convenient form a description of the village 
of Ithaca, with the rare and interesting scenery surrounding 
it, and also some comprehensive account of Cornell Univer- 
sity. The facts here brought together it is hoped may be 
of service. 

If the reader finds the first chapter on the geology of the 
region, interesting, his thanks, with mine, are due to Mr. 
G. K. Gilbert, of the Geological Survey, who has kindly 
given the writer some of the results of his own studies in 
this region. Chapters XXIV to XXVII inclusive, and the 
greater part of Chapter XXVIII, were written entirely by 

Mr. Geo. M. Marshall. 

C. H. T. 



CONTENTS. 



I'AGE. 

I. Our Stone Foundations, i 

II. Our Log Foundations, 5 

III. The Superstructure— Ithaca of to-day,. . 8 

IV. The Cornell Library, 10 

V. Other Public Buildings, 12 

VI. The Churches 14 

VII. "Trade — The Calm He.'Vlth of N.\tions," . 18 

VIII. A Word in General, 21 

IX. Cornell University — Introductory, . . 22 

X. Cornell University — History, 24 

XL Organization and Informing Ideas, ... 32 
XII. Description of the Campus and Buildings 

— General, 38 

XIII. From Cascadilla to the Armory 40 

XIV. The Armory .\nd Gymnasium Hall, .... 43 
XV. Sage College 45 

XVI. Sage Chapel, 48 

XVII. On the Way to the President's House, . 50 

XVIII. Morrill Hall and White Hall, 53 

XIX. The McGraw Building, The Museum, and 

Library, 56 

XX. The Physical and Chemical Building, . . 63 

XXI. Sibley College, 66 



VI CONTENTS. 

XXII. The Engineering Building, and East Side 

OF Campus, 69 

XXIII. Final Word, . 71 

XXIV. The Gorges— Fall Creek Ravine 72 

XXV. Cascadilla and Six Mile Creek 79 

XXVI. Buttermilk Gorge, 82 

XXVII. Lick Bjiook, 86 

XXVIII. Enfield Gorge, 89 

XXIX. On the Shores of Cavuga, 92 

XXX. Taughannock, 95 

XXXI. More Ravines vStill 100 

XXXII. The Drives, loi 

XXXIII. In and Out of Ithaca 103 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Ithaca from South HitL. 

Ithaca High School Building. 

Cornell University from Sage College. 

Armory and Gymnasium Hall. 

Sage College. 

Ithaca Fall— Fall Creek. 

The McGraw-Fiske Mansion. 

Triphammer Fall — Fall Creek. 

Lucifer Fall— Enfield. 

Taughannock Fall. 



IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 



I. 

OUR STONE FOUNDATIONS. 

THE books tell us that Ithaca was founded m 1789. 
The rocks tell quite another story. Not in years, 
but in aeons do they record the flight of time since our 
foundations were laid. Curious and interesting is the 
tale, not yet quite reclaimed from the realm of primeval 
myth, but still plain enough, so that we may keep the 
thread of the strange story. Like editors of some old 
manuscript or translators of some ancient classic, we 
will allow ourselves to supply a word here and there, 
which perhaps the scientists are not quite read}- to put 
in, but which is needed to complete the sense, and then 
the history will run as follows : — 

Long ago these heaps of Chemung shale were laid 
down under the water, and now and then a little spirifer 
or trilobite was immortalized in the process. Then, 
in the course of time, when the water went down or the 
land came up — no matter now which — a great plateau 
was formed through the centre of the vState. Through 
it ran tortuous and winding streams, as streams are 
wont to be, taking off the drainage of the country north- 
ward, and having each its own little valley running in 
a general way north and south. Then over this fair 



2 IX AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

scene broke the horror of the glacial epoch. Ice to an 
extent which the imagination even cannot compass, 
covered the land reaching down to what in distant fu- 
ture ages was to be the State of Pennsj-lvania. It filled 
all these little valleys, and as it moved slowl^^ majesti- 
call\- and mercilessly over the country, it ground off 
sharp corners into rounded cur\'es, it scratched out little 
irregularities completel}', and in places where it stayed 
longest it dug out the valley to a greater depth. The 
ice gradually moved off to the north, dropping its debris 
from its receding edges, and this moraine matter is now 
plainh' visible on the Spencer divide. It j-ielded a little 
on the south, but the great glacial mass, like a huge 
dam, still shut off the outlets of the valleys in the 
north. Then in that valley which in ages to come was 
to be filled by Cayuga Lake, began the action which 
has resulted in the curious glens and gorges that make 
our Ithaca so enchanting and bewildering a place. 

As the ice receded the space it left behind was occu- 
pied by a lake, shut in at the north by the ice-dam. 
The old water-courses were broken up. The little 
streams poured into the lake here and there, wherever 
it happened it seems, and rapidh' wore away the soft 
rock where thej^ chose their channels. The debris from 
this cutting process was deposited just under water at 
the mouths of the streams, forming deltas. By and by 
the ice-dam to the north gave way a little, and the level 
of the lake was consequently lowered. These deltas 
then became little terraces, and the streams cut deeper 
and took down more debris to form other deltas below. 



OUR STONE FOUNDATIONS. 3 

Then the ice-dam yielded a Httle more ; and so the pro- 
cess was repeated, until finally the lake reached its 
present level, the ice all having passed awaj-. The suc- 
cessive deltas that the many streams had formed, as the 
lake lowered its level, now became terraces up the sides 
of the various ravines.* 

So we see that all these ravines were given their curi- 
ous and fantastic shaping, as the result of the great ice 
flow, which not only straightened out and improved the 
narrow and tortuous channel of some primeval creek 
to be the fit bed of our beautiful Cayuga Lake, but also 
in its tardy departure formed a great ice-locked lake, in- 
to which the young and inexperienced streams poured 
their contributions, cutting down the rock as the level 
of the ice-lake fell. 

Such is the true storj^ of all the streams, save alone 
Six Mile Creek, that lend their varied charms to make 
the setting of Ithaca so royal in its beauty. Six Mile 
is likely more nearly as it was in the days before the ice 
came over the world. There are many details of the 
story about which we should like to ask just one or two 
questions, as for example, whether the height of the 
various falls corresponds with successive breaks in the 



* This terrace formation is plainly shown on the sides of the 
Fall Creek ravine. Professor Conistock's house stands on one 
terrace, the next lower one is occupied by the Sibley Building 
and Physical Laboratory ; the next by the McGraw-P'iske 
House ; 'the next by the mills, while the great gravel bank at 
the foot of the ravine is a very good example of the way in 
which these terraces were formed. The process may be scien 
going on at present, noticeably at Taughannock, where the 
stream is building out a great peninsula. 



4 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

ice-dani and consequent lowering in the level of the ice- 
lake. The fact that all the lowest falls in the various 
ravines make the greatest leaps would seem to give an 
answer to our question, as decided as it is interesting. 
However, we ma}- not cross-question too closeh- as yet, 
but ma}' rest assured that we have the main facts of the 
stor>^ in our possession. 

As we stand on one of our hills, tjiis story will help 
us to understand and interpret the landscape that is 
presented to our view. The long sweep and graceful 
curves of the lake valley, and the smoothly sloping 
hills, save where they are serrated by the terrace-teeth 
in the mouth of some deep ravine, were ground out by 
the ice. The glacier-artist wrought our landscape. 
Standing by the side of some one of the deep channels 
cut b}- a fretful stream, the thought of the ^•ast period 
of time during which the stream nuist have been at 
work to accomplish what it has, often comes forcibh' to 
the mind. Yet compared to the ages that passed over 
valley and hills, ere the stream began its work, what it 
has accomplished seems like the trifling of an idle sum- 
mer hour. 



II. 

OUR LOG FOUNDATIONS. 

Ithaca was not settled until George Washington be- 
came President. The certainty of some stable govern- 
ment, and adequate protection against their lurking 
foes the Indians, encouraged the colonists to push out 
into new regions ; and so in the very month in which 
Washington assumed office for the first time, April, 
1789, three men, Jacob Yaple, Isaac Dumond and Peter 
Hinepaw, took up four hundred acres of land bounded 
on the west by the line of what is now Tioga street. 
They planted some corn on the flat, and Yaple left his 
younger brother to look after it, while the rest of the 
party went back after the good Dutch women and child- 
ren. The three families, numbering some twenty souls 
all told, came back in September, and put up log cab- 
ins, Hinepaw on the north side of Cascadilla Creek, 
near the present location of Williams' Mill, the other 
two on East State Street, where now stands the residence 
of the late Adam S. Cowdry. But in 1793 these three 
families had the misfortune to lose their land, which 
passed into the possession of Simeon Dewitt. He laid 
out the Village of Ithaca, and encouraged settlement by 
the liberal terms offered to settlers. By 1 798 there were 
half a dozen houses. In 1806 the number of buildings 
had increased to twelve, six or seven of which were 
frame. A Mr. Vrooman kept a hotel on the spot where 



6 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

the Tompkins House now stands, calling it the ' ' Ithaca 
Hotel." It was from this fact that the place came to 
be generally known by the name of Ithaca, although 
Mr. DeWitt had bestowed that name upon it some years 
previously. The village had before that been common- 
ly called ' ' The Flats, " " The City, "or " Sodom. ' ' In 
1 8 ID Mr. DeWitt wrote from Albany: "The place to 
which I purpose to go when I have no business here, is 
a village of at least thirty hou.ses. * * '^ If I 
should live twenty years longer, I am confident that I 
should see Ithaca as important a place as Utica is 
now ' ' ; and in a letter from Ithaca, dated the same 
year, he sa^-s, "I find this village considerably in- 
creased since I was here before. I have counted thirt}-- 
eight dwelling houses, among which are, one very large, 
elegant three-story house for a hotel, and fi\-e of two 
stories ; the rest of one stor>% all generally neat frame 
buildings. Besides these, there are a school-house, and 
buildings for merchants' stores, and shops for carpen- 
ters, cabinet-makers, blacksmiths, coopers, tanners ; 
and we have besides, shoe-makers, tailors, two lawyers, 
one doctor, watch-cleaner, turner, miller, hatter, etc." 
With all this apparent prosperit}-, however, there were 
only two or three marriageable yoinig ladies, and some 
forty eligible young men. 

So favorably started with a name and a taveni, 
Ithaca steadily grew and prospered. The turnpike to 
Owego, completed about 1808, and that to Geneva, com- 
pleted about 1811, gave increased shipping facilities, and 
the demand for Cayuga plaster, caused by the war of 



OUR LOG FOUNDATIONS. 7 

181 2, the supply from Nova Scotia having been shut off 
on account of the war, gave an impulse to commercial 
enterprise. In 1820 the population numbered 859. The 
same year the keel of the Enterprise, the first steamer 
built on the lake was laid, and the boat was launched 
May 4th, 1 82 1 . The boat connected with the Newburgh 
stages, making the most direct route from New York 
to Buffalo, the entire journey occupj-ing only three 
days. The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, gave direct 
communication wath the Atlantic seaboard. In 1834 
the Ithaca and Ovvego railroad was completed. The 
old style strap rail w^as used throughout, and the road 
ascended the hill from Ithaca- by two inclined planes, 
up the steeper of which the cars were drawn by means 
of a huge windlass worked by horse power. Bright 
anticipations of the future were, of course, raised by all 
these increased facilities, and Ithaca, like most nascent 
cities, went through its era of speculation. It was 
destined, however, to be prosperous, but not great as a 
commercial centre, and it gradually settled down to a 
steady growth. In 1845 the population was about 
4,000, in i860 about 7,000, and now it is nearly 12,000. 
But from all this let us turn to our Ithaca, as we 
know it to-day, as it is loved b}- its citizens and admired 
by all comers. 



III. 

THE SUPER.STRUCTURE — ITHACA OF TO-DAY. 

Nobly and beautifully situated, the lake stretching 
out its silver beauty before her, the hills rising about 
her to form a terraced amphitheatre, Ithaca is to-day fast 
realizing all that is meant by the term, a University 
town. Pictures of Oxford and Cambridge, of the Uni- 
versity towns of Germany, rise before the mind in 
comparison with which, however, Ithaca suffers not at 
all. Youngest of her sisters, it is true, not yet so fully 
developed in all ways, but quietly and rapidh' growing 
into her place. 

The view from South Hill, coming in on the Delaware, 
Lackawanna and Western Railroad, the old Ithaca and 
Owego road, is on the whole the most comprehensive 
and satisfactorv'.* On the east and west the lake valley 
rises to the level of the old plateau in graceful curves, 
intersected here and there bj- some one of the numerous 
ravines. On East Hill the buildings of the Cornell 
University stand out in bold relief, Cascadilla Place in 
the foreground, half hidden by foliage, i To the north 
the placid waters of Cayuga flow out to meet the hori- 
zon. Crow-bar Point, six miles down the lake, seeming 
to cut it off, and the water then reappearing far in the 



* See PVontispiece. 

t These buildings do not appear in the Frontispiece. See 
View of the Campus. 



THE SUPERSTRUCTURE — ITHACA OF TO-DAY. 9 

distance beyond. Right below us rise the roofs and 
spires of the city itself, the Cornell lyibrary Building, 
and the new High School Building being conspicuous 
among surrounding edifices. Just at the base of West 
Hill runs the sluggish Inlet ; on its bank are the great ele- 
vators, further to the north the steamboat landing and 
the dingy coal docks. Near the base of the East Hill, 
witching Willow Avenue leads the now quiet Cascadilla 
to the L,ake. Such is the Forest City as seen in the 
whole, nestling among its hills, guarded b}?- its s^dvan 
deities. 

But from the hill let us come nearer, and visit those 
places that we should know about, and leani how they 
came to be. 



IV. 

THE CORNELL LIBRARY. 

Ithaca early started out as a literary place. As early 
as in 1806, three hundred dollars worth of books were 
purchased to constitute a public librar}'. Few, if any, 
additions were ever made to this collection, and about 
1835 the books were divided up among the members of 
the Minerva Society, who had acquired the title to the 
librar}-. The library disappeared in the way such li- 
braries do, the various persons who had books in their 
possession keeping those they had, and getting as many 
more as they could. 

In 1862, Ezra Cornell, having acquired a large for- 
tune in building up the telegraph system of the countiy , 
came to the decision that he would be his own ex- 
ecutor in making that fortune a blessing to other men. 
He decided to found a free public library'. His first in- 
tention was to devote $20,000 to the purchase of a lot 
and the erection of a building, but on consultation with 
his friends, this original purpose was greatly modified, 
and he finally decided to start the library- as it ought to 
be started, let the cost be what it might. With clear 
business foresight he recognized the fact that to ensure 
the permanence and pro.sperity of the Librar}- it mu^t 
be made self-sustaining. In accordance with this \-ie\v, 
the present librar>- building was erected, and dedicated 
with impressive ceremonies, on the the 2otli of Decem- 
ber, 1866, having cost, with the books in the librar}- at 
the time of dedication, $65,676.50. 



THE CORNELL LIBRARY. II 

The building stands on the corner of Seneca and Tio- 
ga Streets. It is a handsome brick structure, three 
stories high above a finished basement. The first floor 
is at present occupied by the rooms of the First Nation- 
al Bank, the Cornell Free Reading Room, and business 
offices. The second floor contains the rooms for the 
Library, and a large hall, capable of seating over eight 
hundred persons. The third floor contains two large 
rooms over the hall, and a suit of living rooms for the 
janitor. The library room is thirty feet wide, fifty feet 
long, and twenty-four feet high, well lighted and fire- 
proof. The space for books is divided into two tiers of 
alcoves, each tier containing ten alcoves, and each 
pair of alcoves being finished in a different native wood. 
The capacity of the room is about 30,000 volumes. It 
at present contains about 12,000. The income from 
the rent of the business offices and the hall has proved 
sufficient not only for the maintenance of the Ivibrar>% 
but also for a steady addition to the volumes on its 
shelves. 

The I^ibrary is controlled by the Cornell lyibrary As- 
sociation, incorporated in 1864, according to Mr. Cor- 
nell's own ideas. The Board of Trustees consists of the 
eldest male descendant of Ezra Cornell, the pastors of the 
Presbyterian, First and Second Methodist, Congregation- 
al, Episcopal, First Baptist, and Catholic churches, the 
principal of the Academy, the Principal of the District 
Schools, the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, the 
President of the village, the Chief Engineer of the 
Fire Department, and six others. The Eibrarian of the 
Library is ex officio, a trustee of Cornell University. 



V. 

OTHER PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 

On Cayuga Street, between Seneca and Buffalo, 
stands a graceful brick edifice that serves the village ot 
Ithaca as High School. Ornamental in its outlines, 
convenient in location, and furnished in accordance with 
the best modern scientific ideas on edvication, it is an 
honor to the Forest City. 

The corner-stone of the building was laid Sept. 2d, 

1884, with imposing Masonic ceremonies. Sept. 7th, 

1885, the dedicatory- services were held in the building. 
The High School stands on the site of the old Ithaca 
Academy, the corporation of this institution ha\-ing 
made over its property to the village of Ithaca in 18S4. 
The material of the building is pressed brick, orna- 
mented with terra cotta work. The first floor contains 
the rooms of the Grammar School, rooms for the Board 
of Education and the Superintendent, and cloak rooms. 
The second story contains a study hall fifty-two by six- 
ty-five feet, a physical laboratory, four recitation rooms 
and the Principal's office. The entire cost of the com- 
pleted building was $55,549.18. The building is fur- 
nished throughout with school furniture of the most 
approved construction, and supplied with ever>- appli- 
ance to promote the good health of the pupils. The 
building is a noble structure, and in its completeness 
and efficiency well represents the pul)lic school system 
of Ithaca. 




ITHACA. 

HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING. 



OTHER PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 1 3 

Aside from the High School, the pubHc buildings of 
note are the Court House on DeWitt Park, and the 
building for the police station and the fire department, 
on the corner of Seneca and Tioga Streets. It can hardly 
be said that either of these buildings possess such archi- 
tectural beauty as to attract a ver^' careful inspection. 



VI. 

THE CHURCHES. 

The first religious denomination to be represented by 
an organized church in the settlement of Ithaca was the 
Presbyterian. The First Presb5'terian church of Ithaca 
was organized in 1804, with a membership of seven 
persons. The Rev. G. Mandeville was the first pastor, 
and continued to preach here and at Trumansburg on 
alternate Sundaj-s for twelve years, when he became 
discouraged, and gave up, so little spiritual activity 
was manifested by the settlers. In 18 16 Dr. Wisner 
began his labors by excommunicating six of the twent}^ 
members ; and his zeal and earnestness were rewarded 
by the rapid growth of the .society until in 1820 it num- 
bered one hundred and thirteen members. At that time 
horse racing and intemperance were not held by public 
opinion to be at all incompatible with the exercise of 
the Christian graces, and Dr. Wisner, who held a 
different view, had no little trouble with his congrega- 
tion. The first church building was erected in 18 18. 
In 1825 this was altered and enlarged, and .so remained 
till 1853, when it was torn down, and the present com- 
modious building erected. The church stands on the 
north-west corner of DeWitt Park, is an imposing edi- 
fice viewed from the outside, and the inside is finished 
with good taste and elegance. A neat brick building 
for lecture-room and chapel, adjoins the church on the 
east. 



THE CHURCHES. I5 

The First, or Aurora Street, Methodist church, is a 
handsome brick edifice, on the corner of Aurora and 
Mill Streets. It was erected in 1866. The society was 
first organized in 1794, b}- the Rev. John Broadhead, 
but soon became practically extinct. In 181 7 it was re- 
vived, and in 1820 a chapel was erected on the site of 
the present building, and dedicated under the pastorate 
of the Rev. G. W. Densmore. Hitherto the villagers 
had been obliged to rely upon their memories to be re- 
min-ded of the hour of church service, but these had 
doubtless been found more or less treacherous, and con- 
sequently the new chapel was equipped with a bell, the 
first to send its summons across Cayuga valley. 

St. John's Episcopal Church was organized at a meet- 
ing held in the Methodist chapel, April 8th, 1822. In 
1823 the first church edifice, a brick structure, was erected 
on the site of the present building. In 1844 the church 
was repaired and enlarged ; in 1845 ^ parsonage was 
purchased, and in i860 the old church was torn down, 
and the present substantial edifice on the corner of 
Buffalo and Cayuga Streets, was erected in its stead. 
St. Paul's Episcopal church was organized in 1874, and 
holds services in the University Chapel. 

The First Baptist Church of Ithaca, now known as 
the Park Baptist Church, occupies a commodious and 
tasteful brick building on the east side of DeWitt Park. 
The .society was first organized in Danbj^ village as the 
Danby Baptist Church, but for purposes of convenience 
was removed to Ithaca in 1826, taking its present name. 
The first church building was erected in 1 830-3 1 , and 
the present building in 1854. 



l6 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

The First Congregational Church was organized in 
1830, by the Rev. John H. Schemerhom, as the Re- 
formed Protestant Dutch Church, and a building was 
erected in 1830-31. In 1872 the organization was 
changed to a Congregational Societ}-, and in 1883-4 the 
present handsome edifice on the comer of Seneca and 
Geneva Streets was erected. Beautiful, but not espe- 
cially imposing, viewed from the exterior, the church 
from the interior is a model of taste, comfort and con- 
venience. 

The Second Methodist Church occupies a large brick 
edifice on the corner of State and Albany vStreets. The 
society was organized from the First Church in 1851 ; 
and first erected a frame structure on the corner of 
Seneca and Plain Streets. The societ}' was then known 
as the Seneca Street M. E. Church. In 1878 the pres- 
ent church building was erected, and the church has 
since been known as the State Street Church. 

The First Unitarian Society of Ithaca was the out- 
growth of a series of meetings which began in the 
Town Hall on the 15th of October, 1865. The Rev. 
Samuel J. May, notable in anti-slaver}' histor\% officia- 
ted at this meeting, and was prominently interested in 
the movement which followed. In 1S68 articles of asso- 
ciation were adopted, and the name of the society 
changed to the Church of Christian Unity. The society 
at present occupies a neat frame edifice on Buffalo Street 
near Aurora, which was erected in 1873. 

The first Catholic settlers came to Ithaca about 1830, 
and a church was organized in 1834, and called the 



OUR CHURCHES. I? 

Church of the Immaculate Conception. The first build- 
ing was erected in 1851, and the present church, on the 
comer of Seneca and Geneva Streets, in i860. 

The Tabernacle Baptist Church, organized in 1870, 
occupies a small house of worship on Railroad Avenue. 
At present the foundations are laid for a new church edi- 
fice adjoining the one now occupied. 

The Free Methodist Society, organized in 187 1, occu- 
pies a building on North Tioga Street. 

The African M. E. Zion Church was organized in 
1833, and has long occupied a modest edifice on Wheat 

Street. 

The Wesleyan (colored) M. E. Church, was organ- 
ized from the Zion Church in 185 1, and occupies a build- 
ing on North Albany Street. 



VII. 

"trade — THE CALM HEALTH OF NATIONS." 

In fine .stores and well-conducted business enterprises 
of various sorts Ithaca has never been deficient. But 
certain products of the Forest City are unique in their 
interest, and have borne her name into every quarter of 
the civilized world, and some quarters even of the un- 
civilized. Chief of these is the Ithaca Calendar Clock. 
Where has your early lot in life been cast, that you 
have not heard of or .seen an Ithaca Calendar Clock ? 
Nothing has given the clock-making profession so 
much fame as this highest product of its skill, and the 
manufacture of the Ithaca calendar is the aristocracy of 
clockmaking. The first really successful patent for a 
perpetual clock calendar, was obtained by Mr. Horton, 
of Ithaca, in 1865 ; and this, improved and modified, 
is the one now owned by the Ithaca Calendar Clock Co. 
As now made it indicates perpetually the daj- of the 
month, the month of the year, and the day of the 
week. The works on Adams Street, in the northern 
part of the city, contain much interesting special ma- 
chiners' of exceedingly ingenious construction. 

In the same building is the factory of the Autophone 
Company, which manufactures the autophone, one of 
the most ingenious of the man}- automatic musical in- 
struments that are so peculiar a product of the latter 
half of the nineteenth century. 



"trade — THE CALM HEALTH OF NATIONS." I9 

Not far from the clock factory, and nearer the Inlet, 
are the Ithaca Glass Works. The plant is one of the 
largest and best arranged in the country, and produces 
some 9,000 boxes of white crystal sheet glass monthly. 
One of the youngest of Ithaca's larger industries, it is 
one of the most interesting, as it is one of the most 
promising. 

If we can consider the press as a business enterprise, 
and certainly the business side of journalism is by no 
means its least important side, there is no better place 
than this in which to speak of the newspapers that 
supply the Forest City with its daily mental food. 

The journalistic traditions of the past centre around 
the Ithaca Journal. The Journal is the lineal descend- 
ant of the Seneca Republican, which first came from the 
press in 1815, as a twelve by fourteen inch paper, pub- 
lished by Johnathan Ingersoll. In 1816 the name was 
changed to the Ithaca Journal. The name changed, how- 
ever, almost as often as the proprietors, and that was with 
rather regular frequency, until in 1841 the paper came 
into the control of John H. Selkreg, who revived the 
old name, by which it has since been known. Rivals 
sprang up, only to be absorbed. In 1872, after many 
unsuccessful attempts by other parties to make a daily 
live, the Daily Journal was started, and has met with a 
steady and satisfactory support. The paper is now con- 
trolled by the Ithaca Journal Association. Originally 
Democratic in politics, the Journal became republican 
when the slavery question became a vital issue, and has- 
.since remained so. 



20 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

The Ithaca Democrat traces its lineage to the Ithaca 
Chronicle, established in 1820 by D. D. Spencer. The 
Chronicle, like the Journal, experienced many vicissi- 
tudes of ownership and name, but finally settled down 
to be called the Dejnocrat in 1867. In 1884, the Daily 
Democrat made its appearance, and was successful in its 
object of offering democratic opposition to the republi- 
can influence of the Daily Jottrnal. It was discontin- 
ued shortly after the elections. 

Riimscy s Companion, established at Drj-den in 1856, 
was the progenitor of the Weekly Ithacan. After many 
vicissitudes the paper was removed to Ithaca in 1871. 
It is devoted to local interests, temperance, and green- 
backs. 

The Ithaca Republican was established as a weekly 
paper in 1885. It has been so successful as to warrant 
its advance to a tri- weekly, and though youngest of 
Ithaca's journals, has already- taken its share of patron- 
age and influence. 



VIII. 

A WORD IN GENERAL. 

This you say, is not all that can be said about Ithaca, 
but you will agree with me that not all that can be said 
is worth saying in a book of this character. We seek 
only to give those features of our village that are of 
most general interest, or that are unique, and so distin- 
guish it from other villages of the same kind. As it is 
well known to be a prosperous place of good repute, we 
shall take it for granted that it will be known without 
our telling that there are pleasant streets, and beautiful 
homes, good citizens, and it may be some bad ones, 
city government, firemen, good ones, police, and all 
that goes to make such a village as Ithaca is known to 
be. Only to one place more must we turn our attention 
before tracing the growth of the noble seat of learning 
that crowns East Hill. That is the city where dwell 
the peaceful dead. On the wooded slopes of the eastern 
hillside, in view of the silver lake, with Cascadilla's 
murmurous waters whispering a lullaby, they sleep, till 
the water shall stop flowing, and the lullaby shall cease. 
In peacefulness and quiet beauty, there are few ceme- 
teries that surpass that of the Forest City. 



IX. 

CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 
INTRODUCTORY. 

Cornell University was first opened to receive students 
in October, 1868. At that time there were only two 
buildings, neither of which was completed. Professors 
and students propped up the doors to their rooms when 
they retired at night, because the hinges and the locks 
had not yet been put on, and the .sound of Greek recita- 
tions and the blows of the hammer resounded from ad- 
joining rooms. There were no walks, the ground was 
rough and uneven, and the corn field still held its place 
on the summit of the hill. Everything was lacking for 
a great University, except great men, and grand ideas. 
To-day the alumni of this institution number more than 
a thousand, scattered over this land and almost all 
others. Ten stately buildings of brick and stone, sur- 
rounded b}^ a smooth and well graded campus, have 
supplanted the cornfield. Rows of flourishing elms in- 
terlace their branches over pleasant walks and winding 
drives. Nearly seven hundred students throng its halls, 
and are taught in all branches of human learning. 
Among the few institutions that make American schol- 
arship respected ever3^where, it occupies a foremost 
place. Foreign scholars speak of it with respect, and 
esteem it an honor to lecture in its halls. And it has 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 23 

exercised an influence upon higher education in America 
that words cannot express. The history of education 
shows no parallel to the growth and development of this 
University. What are the secrets of this growth ? 

We shall find an adequate explanation for the success 
of Cornell University in the men who have built it, and 
in the foundations upon which they built. Ezra Cor- 
nell's heart and hand, and Andrew D. White's heart 
and brain, are wrought into its very texture. It was 
not alone Ezra Cornell's gift of money, and devotion to 
the care of the University funds that constituted his in- 
estimable service in its advancement, but it was even 
more the broad and liberal foundations upon which he 
would have it built. Andrew D. White lent to the 
work a wide experience in other institutions of learning, 
a breadth and catholicity of culture seldom equalled, 
great liberality of opinion and unusual administrative 
talent. During the life-time of Mr. Cornell he was 
nobly assisted by such men as John McGraw, Hiram 
Sibley and Henry W. Sage, and after his death the 
Trustees proved themselves worthy to carry on the 
great undertaking. No institution e\-er encountered 
severer opposition, none ever went through darker trials, 
but she has conquered opposition and difficulties, and is 
to-day richer, stronger and more prosperous than ever 
before. 



X. 

HISTORY. 

The histor}' of Cornell Universit}- begins with the so- 
called Morrill Grant of 1862. In that year, the Hon. 
Justin S. Morrill, United States Senator from Vermont, 
introduced into Congress, and secured the passage of a 
bill granting to each State thirt}- thousand acres of the 
public lands for each Senator and Representative in 
Congress. The object of the act was plainly expressed 
in the words, ' ' the endowment, support and mainte- 
nance of at least one college where the leading object 
shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical 
studies, and including military- tactics, to teach such 
branches of learning as are related to agriculture and 
the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of 
the States may respectively prescribe, in order to pro- 
mote the liberal and practical education of the industrial 
classes in the several pursuits and professions of life. ' ' 
Under this law. New York received land scrip repre- 
senting 990,000 acres of land. On certain easy condi- 
tions this entire grant was, in May, 1863, transferred by 
the Legislature of the State of New York to the People's 
College at Havana, N. Y. This action had not been 
taken without a good deal of opposition, for the \'arious 
colleges throughout the State wanted the grant divided. 
the State Agricultural College at Ovid pushing its 
claims with especial vigor. 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY — HISTORY. 25 

In the legislature of 1864, Andrew D. White, of 
Syracuse, N. Y. , was chairman of the Senate Commit- 
tee on Public Instruction. In that capacit>^ his atten- 
tion was called to a bill for incorporating a public li- 
brary in Ithaca, to which Mr. Cornell proposed to give 
$100,000. This led to the beginning of a fi-iendship 
that lasted vmtil the death of Mr. Cornell in 1874, and 
which was to be fruitful of the most important results 
to the cause of higher education. 

It had by this time become evident that the People's 
College would not be able to meet the conditions on 
which the land grant had been made over to it, and 
that the grant would consequently revert to the State. 
The twenty colleges of the State were anxious that the 
sum should be divided among them. As the scrip was 
then worth not more than $600,000 all told, this would 
have given to each some $30,000, a meagre endowment 
for a single professorship. Mr. Cornell, being a Trustee 
of the State Agricultural College at Ovid, favored the 
division of the grant into two parts, giving one to the 
People's College, and one to the Agricultural College. 
From the first, Mr. White steadily opposed any division 
whatever. It seemed to him a providential oppor- 
tunity for the establishment of a great university in the 
centre of the State of New York, which should be 
built upon better principles than had hitherto prevailed, 
and should make the best provisions for modern scienti- 
fic and technical instruction. Such an institution had 
long been in his mind.* 

* At the inauguration of President White in 1868, Mr. Geo. 
William Curtis used these words : " My friends, it is now just 



26 IX AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

He had once offered to add half his own private for- 
tune to the endowment of such a University, and the 
way now seemed open for realizing his long cherished 
wish. 

The legislature being unable to come to an agreement 
upon any one of the various plans before it for disposing 
of the land scrip, adjourned without taking action. 
During the ensuing summer, Mr. Cornell, after a vain 
effort had been made to induce Mr. White to acquie.sce 
in a compromise, by which half the sum should go to 
the Agricultural College, and half remain where it was 
with the People's College, finally became fully converted 
to Mr. White's ideas. He accordingly came fonvard 
and offered, provided the State would establish an en- 



about ten years since I was in the cit}- of Ann Arbor, Michigan, 
the seat of the University of Michigan. ... I was in that 
city, and I sat at night talking with my friend, a New York 
scholar. Professor of Histor}- in that institution, and one of the 
men who have given that institution its great place in this 
country. There, in the warmth and confidence of his friend- 
ship, he unfolded to me his idea of the great work that shoubl 
be done in the great State of New York. 'vSurely,' he said, 
'in the greatest State there should he the greatest of Universi- 
ties ; in central New York there should arise a University 
which by the amplitude of its endowment, and by the whole 
scope of its intended sphere, by the character of the studies in 
the whole scope of its curriculum, should satisfy the wants 
of the hour.' 'More than that,' he said, 'it should begin 
at the beginning. It should take hold of the chief inter- 
est of the country, which is agriculture ; then it should 
rise — step by step — grade by grade — until it fulfilled the 
highest ideal of what a University should be.' Until the hour 
was late this young scholar dreamed aloud to me these dreams, 
and at the close, at our parting, our consolation was, that we 
lived in a country that was open to every generous idea, and 
that his dream one day might be realized, was still a possi- 
bility." 



CORNELI- UNIVERSITY— HISTORY. 27 

tirely new institution and locate it at Ithaca, to endow 
the same with the sum of $500,000. A bill to establish 
Cornell University, and to appropriate to it the income 
from the sale of the public lands granted to the State by 
the act of 1862, w^as therefore introduced into the next 
session of the Senate by Mr. White. Mr. White, Mr. 
Cornell, and Mr. Folger, late Secretan,- of the Treasurj^ 
and then a State Senator, drew the bill with great care. 

The strife that followed was prolonged and bitter. 
Ever>^ artifice of political trickery and wire-pulling pol- 
iticians was brought to bear against its passage. The 
smaller colleges cried for their share. Compromise was 
proposed to Mr. Cornell, but he rejected the idea with 
scorn. He would let the legislature put what it pleased 
in the bill, and he would then accept or reject its pro- 
visions, but he would not buy the silence of his oppo- 
nents. As the result of this long struggle, the bill 
was pa.ssed bj^ the Senate, with an amendment providing 
that the scrip should remain with the People's College, 
in case it fulfilled the conditions of its grant within 
three years ; and it came out of the Assembly with 
an absurd amendment requiring Mr. Cornell to give 
$25,000 to endow a chair of Agricultural Chemisty in 
Genesee College, a small Methodist institution at Lima, 
N. Y., before the representatives of the people would 
permit him to give $500,000 to the people whom they 
represented. The bill thus amended, became a law on 
the 27th of April, 1865. 

The People's College again failed to comply with the 
conditions for making the grant its own, and conse- 



28 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

quently the entire amount of the land scrip came into 
the full possession of Cornell University. Mr. Cornell 
paid Genesee College the $25,000 required by the act, 
executed his bond for $500,000 bearing seven per cent, 
interest, in favor of the University, and in addition gave 
two hundred and thirty acres of land as a site for the 
University and a Universit}' farm. 

But this was by no means all. The vState of New 
York not having any public land within its own bor- 
ders, could not locate the scrip, and was therefore 
obliged to sell it at the market price. Owing to the 
great amount of the scrip thrown upon the market, the 
price was rapidly forced down. An average price of 
about sixty cents an acre was all that could have been 
derived from the sale of the lands, and the endowment 
from this source, therefore, in case the scrip had been 
sold, would have amounted to little more than $600,000. 
There was only one way in which a larger sum could 
be realized. The State could sell the scrip to the 
Trustees, who could themselves locate the land for the 
State. An act was accordingly passed, the substance of 
which was, that the State offered to sell the land to the 
Trustees at thirty cents per acre, and if this offer was 
not accepted by the Trustees, offered to .sell the scrip 
to any person or persons who would give securit}- that 
the profits arising from the location and sale of the 
lands would be turned over to the State, to be added to 
the endowment of the University. The Trustees of the 
University were not in a condition to avail themselves 
of the provisions of the act, and accordingly Mr. Cor- 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY — HISTORY. 29 

nell assumed the respousibilit}- of purchasing and loca- 
ting the scrip at his own expense. In a letter to the 
Comptroller, dated June 9th, 1866, Mr. Cornell says : 

' ' I shall most cheerfully accept your views so far as 
to consent to place the entire profits to be derived from 
the sale of lands to be located with the College Land 
Scrip in the treasury of the State, if the State will re- 
ceive the money as a separate fund from that which 
may be derived from the sale of the scrip, and will keep 
it permanently invested, and appropriate the proceeds 
from the income thereof annually to the Cornell Uni- 
versity, subject to the direction of the Trustees thereof, 
for the general purposes of the said institution, and not 
to hold it subject to the restrictions which the act of 
Congress places upon the funds derived from the sale of 
the College I^and Scrip, or as a donation from the gov- 
ernment of the United States, but as a donation from 
Ezra Cornell to the Cornell University." 

This letter is of great importance in the history of 
the University, especially in view of recent criticisms 
upon the broadening of the courses of study beyond 
those branches plainly indicated in the original act of 
Congress. The State accepted Mr. Cornell's proposi- 
tion, and now the greater part of the income of the Uni- 
versity arises from the Cornell Endowment fund, which 
is expressly stated not to be subject to the restrictions 
of the act of Congress. This clearly gives the Trustees 
the right to use the income arising from this fund in 
expanding the scope of the University in any way their 
judgment may dictate. 



30 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

Of Mr. Cornell and his labors in connection with lo- 
cating this land, the Hon. Henry W. Sage, in his address 
at the inauguration of President Adams, spoke as fol- 
lows : ' ' His first gift was half a million dollars to secure 
to Cornell the Land Grant from the United States to this 
State ; after that in various ways, half as much more ; 
and last and greatest, his undertaking with the vState to 
carry for twenty years at his own cost five hundred 
thousand acres of land for which the scrip was worth but 
$300,000, to sell the same, and return the net proceeds 
to the treasury of the State for the benefit of Cornell 
University. The sum thus to be procured from the 
lands he estimated at more than $2,000,000. 

He carried his burden eight years, expending for that 
purpose over $500,000 of his own cash ; but during all 
that time the total sales of land paid but a fraction of 
his expenses for carr^'ing. Meantime the misfortune 
of unavailable investments and failing health rendered 
him unable longer to carry the lands, and on his death- 
bed he said in substance to the Trustees : ' I can no 
longer do this work ; take it and do it for me, but ' (with 
the old-time invincible courage and faith,) 'don't fear 
the result, it will be all I ever expected.' And it has 
been. The Trustees assumed his burden, and with lov- 
ing hearts and willing hands, saving every farthing for 
its destined work, without the cost of a dollar for their 
administration, have already placed in the treasur)'^ of 
the University much more than the largest sum esti- 
mated by him, and the final outcome will be double 
that sum." 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY — HISTORY. 31 

It was for this work that Mr. Cornell was assailed as 
a ' ' thief ' ' and a ' ' land-grabber, ' ' and his declining 
5'ears embittered by the most unjust and unwarranted 
assaults in many of the papers of the State. 

Such is the history of Cornell's magnificent endow- 
ment. To the sum thus secured very important ad- 
ditions have been made by the Hon. Henr>' W. Sage, 
the founder of Sage College, the Hon. Hiram Sibley, 
founder of Sibley College, John McGraw, who gave the 
McGraw Building, Ex-President White, whose gifts to 
the University in money have exceeded $100,000, and 
Mrs. Jennie McGraw-Fiske, who gave the University 
Chime, and by her will made the University Library 
the residuary legatee of her large estate, amounting to 
nearlv a million of dollars.* 



* This will is now being contested in the courts. The pro- 
gress of the suit thus far has been altogether favorable to the 
University. 



XI. 

ORGANIZATION AND INFORMING IDEAS. 

Under the new charter a Board of Trustees was ap- 
pointed, and Mr. White was asked to draw up a plan of 
organization. On the twenty-first of October, 1866, he 
presented his plan to the Board. As a result, on the 
twenty-fourth of October, 1866, Mr. White was unani- 
mously chosen President of Cornell University, a posi- 
tion which he continued to hold for twenty years. He 
was unwilling at first to accept the position, as he had 
important business interests in Syracuse, and had more- 
over, just been elected Director of the Art School, and 
Lecturer on the History of Art, at Yale College. 

He yielded, however, to his desire to see the new in- 
stitution successfull}- started, and to the earnest persua- 
sions of Mr. Cornell, and accepted the position, his in- 
tention being to hold it for a brief time only, in order to 
aid in the organization of the institution and in the se- 
lection of his successor. Complying with the request 
of Mr. Cornell and the Trustees, he shortly after went 
to Europe, and spent some time in investigating the 
school systems of England, France and Germany, 
having reference more especially to technical and agri- 
cultural educatipn. He had the good fortune while 
abroad to secure Professor Goldwin Smith, of the Uni- 
versity of Oxford, for the chair of English History, and 
Dr. James Law, of London College, for the chair of 
Veterinar}' Science. 



CORNEI.I. UNIVERSITY — ORGANIZATION. 33 

The temis of the charter required the University' to 
be opened for the registration of students in 1868. On 
Wednesday, Oct. 7th of that year, Cornell University was 
fomiallj' opened. The material condition in which that 
date found the institution has already been described. 
Nevertheless twenty resident, and six non-resident pro- 
fessors had been appointed, while over three hundred 
students had passed their entrance examinations. 

Of those ideas which from the very outset have dis- 
tinguished Cornell from ever>' other great institution of 
learning in the countr>% the first embodiment is found 
in the charter of the University. That instrument pro- 
vides that the University shall teach such branches of 
learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic 
arts, including militar>' science and tactics, together 
with such other branches of knowledge as the Trustees 
may deem useful and proper. Cornell, in other words, 
puts all truth on a level, and gives, and has always 
given, the scientific or technical student precisely the 
same standing in her halls and on her campus, as the 
student in literature and the classics. That charter fur- 
ther provided that persons of ever>' religious denomina- 
tion or of no religious denomination shall be equally eli- 
gible to all offices and appointments ; and that a free 
scholarship shall be given yearly in each assembly dis- 
trict to the successful competitor in an open examination. 

Mr. Cornell simply and plainly indicated his own no- 
ble purpose in founding the University in that sentence 
which has become classic, ' ' I would found an institution 
where any person can find instruction in any study." 



34 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

But the hand after all, that had most to do with shaping 
the ideas that were to take fomi in the University, was 
the same hand whose ceaseless devotion to its interests 
has built these ideas into brick and stone, and the lives 
of thousands of students, the hand of Andrew D. 
White. What was his conception of the University ? 
This is nowhere better expressed than in the inaugu- 
ral address of President Adams, his successor in the 
Presidency of Cornell University-, and life-long friend : 

' ' What was that idea ? It was a ver>- confident be- 
lief that higher education could never meet the require- 
ments of this centur>', unless it put itself, far more 
perfectly than had hitherto been done, into accord with 
the feeling, the inspirations, the needs, and the demands 
of the present civilization. The incoming of political 
equality and the revolution of the inventions had re- 
sulted in what may be called the industrial age, and 
had brought new demands that could not be ignored. 
These changes, amounting to nothing less than complete 
transformation of the conditions of societ)-, must be 
recognized and accepted. The new power was with the 
masses of the people ; and here, as never before, an 
effort needed to be made to plant university instruction 
upon the necessities, the feelings, and the aspirations of 
the whole people. Here, as never before, education 
was to be made an outgrowth of these needs and aspira- 
tions. Here the belief was held that to limit higher 
education to the classical methods of the fathers would 
be to limit it to what had come to be regarded as a choice 
and delicate plant that was outside the thoughts of nine- 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY — ORGANIZATION. 35 

tenths of the whole population, and that was tending, 
as statistics showed, to be regarded more and more ex- 
otic, no longer thought essential even by some of the 
learned professions. It took the ground that the uni- 
versity of the Nineteenth Century could be fully devel- 
oped only by recognizing the needs and the methods of 
the Nineteenth Century, and that, while classical and 
literary studies were not to be neglected, but on the con- 
trary were to be continued and developed as never 
before, they could no longer lay claim to be the whole 
field and scope of higher education. In short, all through 
the discussion of these formative days of Cornell Uni- 
versity the idea ran like a thread of light that the new 
university must rest upon a broader foundation, must 
awaken the instincts of classes that had long stood 
aloof, must recognize the necessities not only of all the 
professions, but of all the industrial vocations, and that 
when this was done fully and honestly and boldly, the 
classes that had hitherto stood indifferent to the univer- 
sities, or stood sullenly apart from them, would rally to 
their support, and would not only tolerate, but would 
rejoice in the development even of those studies which 
they regarded as most unpractical. ' ' 

The principles of the democracy of truth, and the ed- 
ucating influences of freedom lay at the bottom of the 
organization of Cornell University ; and it is on these 
principles that her unparalleled development, materially 
and intellectually has taken place. 

The Register of the Universit}^ has the following 
statement as to the religious position of Cornell : ' ' The 



36 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

University, established b}- a government which recog- 
nizes no distinction of religious belief, seeks neither to 
promote any creed, nor to exclude any. ' ' This entirely 
proper and just attitude of the University, has from the 
time of its establishment almost to the present, been 
the basis for the most unwarranted and unjustifiable at- 
tacks. ' ' Godless, ' ' and ' ' atheistic, " " the hot-bed of 
infidelity," are some of the milder terms that have been 
applied to it. These attacks have come in the main from 
people who are unable to understand and properl}' in- 
terpret the real attitude of the University. As a 
matter of fact, there is quite as much religious earnest- 
ness among students of Cornell as there is at most 
other colleges, and it may well be questioned whether 
there is not more genuine, intelligent faith. Mr. 
Dean Sage gave the University $30,000 to endow 
the Sage Chapel pulpit, and on this endowment some 
forty sermons are preached ever>' j-ear by leaders of 
Christian thought of ever}' denomination. No such 
course of sermons is presented anywhere else in this 
countrj', and it maj- be doubted whether their equal is 
to be found in the world. The influence of these dis- 
courses upon the thoughtful student bod}- can hardlj- be 
over-estimated. Moreover, there is a University Chris- 
tian Association, to which members of all churches are 
eligible, and the organization now has a membership of 
about one hundred and eighty, and is doing an active 
work in the Universit}'. 

" Another idea that was embedded in the foundations 
of this Universit}-, was the co-equal education of women. 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY — ORGANIZATION. 37 

At the ver>' first the Founder and the President both 
put themselves distinctly before the public as favoring 
the admission of women to all the privileges of the Uni- 
versity, as soon as the needed building for their accom- 
modation could be provided. The friends of the meas- 
ure had not long to wait, thanks to the appreciative 
generosity of one of the board of Trustees. Sage Col- 
lege was built and endowed as the fruit of this purpose ; 
and the Trustees in accepting the gift, put upon lasting 
record the two-fold declaration inscribed on the comer- 
stone : ' This building with its Endowment is the Gift 
of Henry W. Sage ;'* and 'In return for this Gift, the 
Cornell University is pledged to provide and forever 
maintain facilities for the education of Women, as 
broadly as for Men. ' ' ' 

Such is the history of the foundation of Cornell Uni- 
versity. Broad and deep were those foundations laid. 
What has been the superstructure ? 



* The buildiug cost |i5o,ooo, and the endowment was |ioo,- 
000. 



XII. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE CAMPUS AND BUILDINGS. 
GENERAL. 

The buildings of Cornell University are situated upon 
a commanding bluff east of the village of Ithaca. The 
college grounds are bounded on the north by Fall 
Creek Gorge and on the south by the Cascadilla Ravine. 
The Campus extends between these, a distance of about 
half a mile, and the farm lies adjoining the Campus to 
the east, on the summit of the plateau. 

An elevation of more than four hundred feet above 
the lake valley gives a commanding view of the lake 
for nearly twenty miles of its extent from all points of 
the Campus, while to the south the disappearance of 
the valley among the surrounding hills presents a view 
both picturesque and delightful. The universal testi- 
mony of persons who have visited many colleges is to 
the effect that in beauty of location Cornell surpasses all 
others. In spite of the large number of buildings, the 
extent of the Campus is such as to give the visitor an 
impression of roominess. The larger number of build- 
ings are collected in a group at the northern end of the 
Campus, but the Cascadilla building and the Armors- 
are located at the other end of the grounds, on opposite 
sides of Cascadilla ravine, and Sage College and Chapel 
occupy the central space. There are ample lawns, base 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY — GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 39 

ball grounds, drill grounds, tennis grounds and foot ball 
grounds, and in spite of the fact that nowhere is the 
sign ' Keep off the grass ' \dsible, the turf is generally in 
perfect condition, in striking contrast to the ill-used ap- 
pearance of the grass on many college campuses. 

To reach the University grounds visitors, if in car- 
riages, usually ascend State Street to Eddy, drive around 
Cascadilla building, and cross the iron bridge over the 
Cascadilla ravine. If on foot, the route is more often 
up Seneca, or Buffalo to Eddy. For purposes of descrip- 
tion it is convenient and usual to take up the build- 
ings and points of interest as they would present them- 
selves to one entering the grounds in this way. 



XIII. 

FROM CASCADILLA TO THE ARMORY. 

Cascadilla Place stands on the south bank of Casca- 
dilla Ravine. This was the first building owned b}- 
tlie Universit}'. It was originall}' started as a water- 
cure establishment in 1866, but was secured bj- the 
University and finished and fitted up for its uses. The 
cost of the building was over $72,000, of which sum the 
citizens of Ithaca contributed $35,000. The building is 
a massive structure of stone one hundred and ninety by 
one hundred feet, four stories high. It contains nearly 
two hundred rooms which are mainly occupied by pro- 
fessors and their families, and students. The first floor 
contains a large dining hall, and an immense reception 
room, occupying the greater part of the west front. For 
many j-ears these rooms have been used veiy little, but 
the dining hall is now operated again b}- private parties. 

At the opening of the University this building con- 
tained the Faculty room, the Registrar's office, and 
recitation rooms. Many of the Faculty and a large 
number of students had apartments in the building, and 
this was under strict military discipline. The stu- 
dents were required to wear a uniform, their movements 
were regulated by the bell and drum, and their ears 
were accustomed to the sound of the tattoo and the 
reveille. The basement was fitted up with kitchen, 
bakeries, laundr}'-, bath-rooms etc., on the scale of a 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY — CASCADILLA. 41 

great hotel. The dining hall was filled, and the large 
reception room was the scene of many pleasant social 
gatherings, as well as of the more formal Commence- 
ment receptions. This room contains a convenient 
stage, and in later years has been occcasionally used for 
amateur dramatic performances. 

Beyond Cascadilla the road runs along the brink of 
the ravine, while to the right the land rises in a graceful 
terrace to Willow Pond, w^hich supplies water for the 
building. Presently the road crosses the ravine by an 
iron bridge. Here, when the University opened, was 
only a wooden foot-bridge much farther down the bank 
than the present structure. The latter was built in 1874 
at an expense of $7000. Directly under the bridge is 
the Giant's Staircase, one of the prettiest of the Casca- 
dilla cascades. The distance of the base of the fall 
from the roadway is one hundred feet. The view from 
the bridge looking down the glen and across the valley 
to the hill beyond is at all seasons exquisitely beautiful 
— "one of the glories of Ithaca, — an exquisite bit of 
scenery scarcely excelled even in the mountain valleys 
of Piedmont." An electric light now stands at the 
approach to the bridge, and its light thrown upon the 
sides of the ravine and the interlacing branches of the 
pines, makes a striking picture, especially in winter, 
when the snow-laden boughs and the ice-sheeted walls 
make an effect as weird as it is impressive. 

Above the bridge walks are laid out on either side of 
the ravine. The one on the south winding along be- 
tween a bright little brook on one hand and the dark 



42 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

gorge on the the other is known as the ' 'Goldwin Smith 
Walk. ' ' A mass of shale about half way up reached by 
a little side path, is the " Agassiz Rock." The path 
crosses the stream by a rustic bridge, and returning on 
the other side is there known as the " lyowell Walk." 
Beyond the bridge the road to the Campus leads up a 
sharp ascent, with abrupt banks rising on either side. 
On the bank to the right is the chapter house of the 
Kappa Alpha fraternity, erected in 1886 ; on the left is 
the chapter house of the Psi Upsilon fraternity, com- 
pleted in 1884- Both are handsome structures. 




corni-;ll rxiviCRSiTY. 

ARMORY AND GYMNASIUM HAI,I<. 



XIV. 

THE ARMORY AND GYMNASIUM HALL. 

This building, situated just at the top of the hill 
on the right of the road, was completed in the winter 
of 18S3-84. The main portion is of brick, one hundred 
and fifty feet long, sixty feet wide and fifty feet high. 
The Annex, joining the main hall on the south, is a 
two-storied wooden building, having an area of fifty- 
two by thirty-eight feet. The main building, with the 
ejcception of a small portion that is set apart for an 
office and militar}^ store-room, is used for gymnastics 
and militar}' drill. Here are to be found the arms 
and equipments of the cadet corps, and a carefully se- 
lected lot of the most improved gymnastic apparatus 
and appliances for both individual and class work. The 
hall is heated by steam and lighted by electricity, and, 
it is believed, gives the largest clear space for floor room 
of any gymnasium in the country. The Annex contains 
on the lower floor the offices of the Department of 
Physical Culture, faculty dressing-room, general bath 
and dressing-rooms, lavatory, closets and general repair 
room. The upper floor is entirely given up to a dressing- 
room, which contains locker accommodations for five 
hundred students. The steam heating apparatus is all 
contained in a brick building removed some fifty feet 
from the other buildings. The building is surrounded 
by ample lawns used as drill grounds, and for various 



44 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

athletic exercises, although the main athletic grounds 
are situated in the more northern portion of the Campus. 
All men students, natives of America, are, unless ex- 
cused for physical disability or by reason of their being 
obliged to support themselves by their own labor, re- 
quired to drill three days a week, one hour each day, 
during the first and third terms of the Freshman and 
Sophomore years. Each student is required to provide 
himself with the uniform of the corps. Arms and ac- 
coutrements are furnished by the government. The 
drill is under the charge of an officer in the regular 
army who is specially detailed for this ser\dce. Every 
student on entering the University is carefully examined 
by the Professor of Physical Culture, and if found 
defective in bodily development is required to take 
special exercise suited to his needs in the gymnasium. 
It is open for voluntar}- exercise to all other students 
free of charge. 




CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

SAGE COLLECxE. 



XV. 

SAGE COLLEGE. 

Just beyond the Armory the avenue crosses a pretty 
little ravine by a solid causeway, and then divides, one 
branch continuing directly north to the main University 
buildings, passing on its way a row of professors' cot- 
tages, and the other branch turning to the right and 
making a circuit between a wide lawn on the left and 
rows of brilliant flowers and graceful shrubs on the 
right to the front of Sage College. In architectural 
plan and beauty of location, this building is the hand- 
somest of the University buildings, as it is the most 
expensive. It was completed in 1875, and owes its 
erection to the munificence of the Hon. Henry W. 
Sage, who sought by this means to bring the advantages 
of the highest education within the reach of w^omen. 
The building is in the Italian Gothic style, and is con- 
structed in the form of a quadrangle. Passing up a 
broad flight of stone steps the visitor finds himself in 
front of the beautiful central porch. A light enclosed 
balcony projects overhead, and heavy columns of 
polished Quincy granite guard the entrance on either 
side. The main entrance leads into a hall which runs 
the entire length of the building, On the south it opens 
into the general parlor, a large, handsome room, with 
substantial and elegant furniture. On the north it leads 
the way to the general dining room, where there are ac- 



46 IX AXD OUT OF ITHACA. 

commodations for over a hundred boarders. The space 
on the second, third and fourth stories is occupied by 
suites of rooms for women students. 

Just before reaching the parlor, the visitor may turn 
to the left and passing through a short hallway gain ac- 
cess to the botanical lecture room, where the lectures on 
botan}-, and many of the courses in histor}' are delivered. 
The lecture room seats about three hundred. Beyond 
are the private rooms of the Professors of Botan}-, and 
the botanical laborator>% Passing through the labora- 
tory the way leads into the large greenhouses connected 
with the building. These were erected in 1882, also by 
Mr. Sage, at a cost of $15,000. The collection in the 
conserv^atories embraces many rare tropical plants, in- 
cluding the banana, orange, and lemon, the papyrus, 
eucalyptus and lotus. In the winter the mass of bloom 
and perfume always found there makes the conserva- 
tories the favorite resort of the student. 

Above the botanical lecture room, reached b}- a stair- 
case in the octagonal tower on the south, is the botanical 
museum. Two cases on one side of the room contain 
the Horace Mann Herbarium presented to the Universi- 
ty by President White. There are several thousand 
species, including specimens from all parts of the world. 
In other cases are specimens of over a thousand dif- 
ferent kinds of wood polished and arranged to show the 
difference in structure ; collections of fruits, nuts, fibres 
and alcoholic specimens ; besides a large number of 
Auzoux and Brendel models. The north side of the 
court is nearh' enclosed by the g\-mnasium, where gym- 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY — SAGE COLLEGE. 47 

iiastic exercises especially adapted to ladies are con- 
ducted b}^ the Professor of Physical Culture. The sur- 
roundings of Sage College are beautified by beds and 
borders of foliage plants and brilliant flowers, and ever>^ 
effort is made to make life as pleasant as possible for 
the inmates. 



XVI. 

SAGE CHAPEL. 

Beyond Sage College the road crosses a little glen on 
a bridge of solid masonry- and comes presently to Sage 
Chapel, a handsome brick structure, in the Gothic style. 
The building was erected by the Hon. Henrj" W. Sage, 
at a cost of $30,000 and presented to the University. 
The building is constructed with a large auditorium 
seating about four hundred, and a small wing on the 
south capable of seating about one hundred. The 
main auditorium is noteworthy for the number of 
memorial windows and memorial tablets that it contains. 
The large memorial window over the pulpit in the 
eastern end was placed by the Hon. Henry W. Sage in 
memory of his wife. The window is divided into twelve 
parts, in three rows of four sections each ; the scenes 
in the upper and lower rows are taken from the parables 
of the New Testament, while the middle row is made 
up of allegorical figures. Another ver}^ handsome 
window in the .south was placed by President White in 
memory of an infant son. A window in the north east 
corner was placed by the classmates and friends of 
Margaret Hicks in her memory. Tablets in bronze and 
stone line the northern wall, commemorating among 
others the founder, Ezra Cornell, Bayard Taylor, and 
Professor Hartt. In a recess under the tower is 
placed a large pipe organ of excellent quality, the 
gift of Mr. Wm. H. Sage. The high vaulted ceil- 
ing interlaced with beams, the solid walnut seats, to- 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY — CHAPEL. 49 

gether with the stained windows and many memorials, 
give the interior of the chapel, a decidedly European 
appearance. 

On the north side of the main chapel is the Memorial 
Chapel, constructed in the Gothic style of the second or 
decorative period. It was erected, as a tablet in its 
northern end bears witness, to the memor>^ of Ezra Cor- 
nell, John McGraw, and Jennie McGraw-Fiske, and 
was completed in 1884. Though the exterior is of brick 
with stone trimmings, the interior, which is finished in 
pure Gothic, is of Caen stone supported in vaulted 
arches by ribs of Ohio sandstone. On entering the 
chapel the e^-e is at once arrested by the rich memorial 
windows constructed by Clayton & Bell of London. 
They are designed not only to commemorate the con- 
nection of Mr. Cornell, Mr. McGraw, and Mrs. Jennie 
McGraw-Fiske with this University, but also to associ- 
ate their names with the names of some of the greatest 
benefactors in the cause of education. The north 
window contains the figures of William of Wykeham, 
John Harvard, and Ezra Cornell ; the east window the 
figures of Jeanne of Navarre, Margaret of Richmond, 
and Jennie McGraw-Fiske ; the west window those of 
Ehhu Yale, Sir Thomas Bodley, and John McGraw. 
Directly beneath the great northern window is a recum- 
bent figure of Ezra Cornell, in white marble, of heroic 
size, by William W. Story, of Rome. A crypt under- 
neath the chapel contains recesses for the remains of the 
founders of the University. On the exterior, allegorical 
figiires of Munificentia and Beneficentia adorn the east 
and west sides respectively. 



XVII. 

ON THE WAY TO THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE. 

Beyond Sage Chapel the side avenue by which Sage 
College is reached again joins the main avenue, which 
then leads to the main University Buildings, the first 
of which is Morrill Hall. Just before the road reaches 
Morrill Hall another side avenue branches off to the 
right and runs directly east to the President's Hou.se. 
On the right of this avenue near the President's 
House stands an immense pine, beneath which is a 
massive carved stone .seat, placed there by Profes.sor 
Goldwin Smith. The seat bears the inscription "Above 
all nations is humanit}-. ' ' Up the rugged sides of the 
pine a tender ivy is now making its way, while a bra.ss 
tablet sunk in the trunk, bears the inscription "Ivy, 
Cla.ss of 1886." In front of the President's House 
the side avenue joins East Avenue which runs par- 
allel with the main avenue from the Armor>% some dis- 
tance east of the latter. On this comer stands a brown 
.stone bearing the inscription "0.strander Elms." The 
significance of this inscription is often an object of in- 
quiry', and the following interesting explanation may 
not be known to all.* 

' ' And last, not least, a gift which has always had 
for me a fragrance akin to that of the widow's mite 



*From the address of the Hon. Heiirj' W. Sage at the luaugu- 
ratiou of I'resideut Adams. 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY — ELMS. 5 1 

immortalized in Scripture. John B. Ostrander, a man 
remarkable for his integrity and humility, after having 
served me twenty-five years in the forests of Canada and 
Michigan, returned at the age of seventy to Drj^den, 
his native town, to spend there his declining years. 
Meeting me one day he said, ' Henry, I have been to 
the University grounds and seen the work in progress 
there, and feel as if I want to do something to help it 
along. Now, I have no money, but I have been think- 
ing ; I have some fine young elms in my woods, and I 
can bring down thirty or forty and plant them there. 
They will make the grounds look better, and will make 
a shade for somebody after you and I are gone. ' I re- 
plied : ' They are just what we want, bring them and 
they shall be known as the 'Ostrander Elms.' Those 
are the elms on East Avenue, and a stone at each end 
of the row marks the name of the donor. The shadow 
of death has rested over his tomb several years, and not 
long hence will rest over mine, but the elms remain, 
and a hundred years hence the shadows of their grace- 
ful foliage will attest the loving gift he made us, — ' will 
make a shade tor somebod5^' " 

Here, perhaps, is the place to say that the thriving 
elms whose graceful boughs shade the main avenues 
were given to the University by the late Dr. Fitzhugh 
of Geneseo, a brother-in-law of Gerrit Smith. 

The President's House was erected by President 
White in 1 871 at a cost of $50,000 and donated to the 
University to be ever occupied by the President. It is 
a large brick structure, in the Swiss Gothic style. 



52 IX AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

Standing somewhat back from the road, and half hid- 
den by the fohage of the native forest trees that sur- 
round it, it presents a charming picture. The house 
contains, besides man}- valuable works of art, the larger 
part of the private library" of President White, number- 
ing some 20,000 volumes. 

East Avenue extends north of the President's House 
till it terminates on a bluff near the bank of Fall Creek. 
Throughout its entire length it is lined with the resi- 
dences of members of the Faculty, each residence being 
unique in design, and differing completely from all the 
others. Bordered with a broad stone walk shaded by 
elms. East Avenue is one of the pleasantest parts of 
the University grounds. 



XVIII. 

MORRII.L HALL AND WHITE HALL. 

Returning again to the Main Avenue at the point 
where the drive branches off to the President's House, 
the visitor first comes to a large stone building on the 
left of the avenue. This is Morrill Hall. This building 
was the first one erected by the University, and shares 
with Cascadilla the honor of having accommodated the 
first classes. When first erected it was called, "The 
University." After other buildings were erected it was 
called vSouth Hall. Finally it was formally named Mor- 
rill Hall in honor of the Hon. Justin S. Morrill. The 
material of the building is blue stone quarried on the 
University grounds, with trimmings of light Medina 
stone. The building is divided into three divisions or 
halls, b)^ partitions running from roof to basement. In 
the south hall are the offices of the President, the 
Treasurer, the Dean and the Registrar, on the first floor. 
The upper floors are occupied by lecture rooms. In the 
middle hall on the left is the Faculty Room, where the 
meetings of the General Faculty are held. In this 
room are large oil portraits of Ex-President White, the 
Hon. Hiram Sibley, and the Hon. Justin S. Morrill. 
The portrait of the Hon. Henry W. Sage is soon to be 
added to the collection. On the right of the hall is the 
Agricultural museum, which also occupies the basement 



54 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

under the north hall. The museum contains a large 
collection of models of agricultural implements, as well 
as specimens of farm products. The remainder of this 
building is occupied by lecture rooms, the second and 
third stories of the northern hall containing the rooms 
of the architectural department. 

The next building to the Morrill Hall is the McGraw 
building. Passing that for a moment, as meriting a 
separate description we come next to the White Hall. 
This building in architecture, material and construction 
is the exact counterpart of Morrill Hall. The cost of 
each was about $75,000, White Hall having cost some- 
what the more. Having been called for some time 
simply the North Building its name was changed to 
White Hall, in honor of ex-President White, at the 
time when Morrill Hall received its name. The south 
hall of the building is entirely occupied with lecture 
rooms, and professors' private rooms, as is the north 
hall, except that the entomological laboratory occupies 
the entire second floor. The laboratory is fitted up with 
large cases which contain the specimens of the entomo- 
logical museum, many thousands in number, illustrating 
almost every form of insect life, and collected from all 
parts of the world. 

On the right of the middle entrance to White Hall, 
is Association Hall, which was furnished by President 
White to be used jointly by the L,iterarj' Societies and 
the University Christian Association. The walls of the 
room are decorated with nine full length bronze statuettes, 
made in Paris. They represent Washington, Franklin, 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY — WHITE HALL. 55 

Shakespeare, Newton, Beethoven, Goethe, Cerv'antes, 
Dante, and Michael Angelo. Twenty large engravings, 
many of them proof impressions, representing interesting 
historical scenes are interspersed among the bronzes. 
The room is carpeted, comfortably seated, and well 
adapted for its purposes. 



XIX. 

THE MCGRAW BUILDING, THE MUSEUM, AND LIBRARY. 

Between White Hall and Morrill Hall .stands the 
McGraw Building, so named in honor of John McGraw, 
who erected the building at a cost of over $120,000 
and gave the same to the University. The material 
is the same as that of the adjoining buildings, and 
while differing in design, it is so constructed as to com- 
plete the symmetry of the row. The building is con- 
structed with a main central portion, with north and 
south wings, the entire length of the building being two 
hundred and twenty feet, and its width sixty feet. A 
tower twent}^ feet square and one hundred and thirty 
feet high adjoins it on the west. 

The middle entrance on the east side conducts the 
visitor by means of a double winding staircase to the 
second floor, which contains the main museum of the 
University. Just at the foot of these stairs are two im- 
mense specimens of ore, the larger, a very pure ore of 
copper, weighing .several tons. The museum is arranged 
in galleries occupying the space of three floors, with a 
large rectangular open space in the middle. On enter- 
ing the museum the first object to strike the attention 
is a huge plaster cast of a megatherium. On the wall 
over the entrance is a cast of a plesiosaurus. In the 
same group are casts and models of many other old 
monsters, ' 'whose names are as ugly as their .skeletons. ' ' 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY — MCGRAW BUILDING. 57 

Cases around the room contain interesting archaeologi- 
cal collections, especially rich in both South and North 
American antiquities, the Trenton collection of trilo- 
bites and other fossil forms, besides a large number of 
skeletons, stuffed specimens and alcoholic specimens 
illustrative of general zoology and physiology. One 
of the most curious objects in the collection is a 
numimy of a date some eight hundred years before 
the Christian Era. It was secured for the Univer- 
sitj' by the Hon. G. P. Pomeroy, Consul at Cairo, 
in 1883. The first gallery is mainly occupied by 
the Newcomb collection of shells, purchased by the 
University from Dr. Wesley Newcomb at a cost of 
$16,000. The collection is systematically arranged and 
classified, and for scientific purposes as well as for the 
number and beauty of the specimens is probably un- 
equalled in the world. Cases on the east and south 
sides contain the collection illustrative of invertebrate 
life, one of the most interesting in the museum. It 
contains among other specimens, a fine collection of 
rare and beautiful corals, and a remarkable series of 
colored glass models of different forms of invertebrate 
Hfe. 

The second gallery is mostly occupied by cases con- 
taining photographs illustrative mainly of European ar- 
chitecture. The collection has been brought together 
largeh' by ex-President White, and contaiiis much to 
interest the lover of art. From this gallery a door leads 
into the tower, on entering which the first object to 
meet the visitor is the apparatus of the University 



58 IX AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

clock. There are four dial plates, one on each side of the 
summit of the tower, with which this mechanism is 
connected. It is also connected with the chime, on 
which it rings two notes for the first quarter, four for 
the second, six for the third, and eight for the fourth, 
striking the hour on the great bell. A narrow stair- 
case leads up the tower to the last floor, where is located 
the simple apparatus by which the chime is played. 
A second staircase brings the visitor to the belfry. Here 
are hung the ten bells composing the Universit}- chime. 
The total weight of the chime is about ii,ooo pounds, 
the largest bell weighing 4,889 pounds, and the smallest 
230. The largest bell, the " Magna Maria," is the gift 
of Mrs. Andrew D. White, the other nine, composing 
the original chime, having been presented' to the Uni- 
versity by Mrs. Jennie McGraw-Fiske. The large bell 
bears the inscription, " The gift of Mary, wife of An- 
drew D. White, first President of the Cornell University, 
1869." "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth 
peace, good-will toward men." " To tell of thy loving 
kindness early in the morning, and of thy truth in the 
night season ; ' ' with this stanza written expressly for 
it by Professor James Russell lyowell : 

I call as fly the irrevocable hours. 

Futile as air or strong as fate, to make 
Your lives of sand or granite, awful powers ; 

Even as men choose, they either give or take. 

The nine bells, beginning with the smallest, bear the 
following stanzas taken from Tennyson's "In Memo- 
riam : ' ' 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY — CHIME. 59 

FIRST BELL. 
Ring out the old, ring in the new, 
Ring out the false, ring in the true. 

SECOND BELL. 
Ring out the grief that saps the mind ; 
Ring in redress to all mankind. 

THIRD BELL. 
Ring out a slowly dying cause, 
And ancient forms of party strife ; 

FOURTH BELL. 
Ring in the nobler modes of life. 
With sweeter manners, purer laws. 

FIFTH BELL. 
Ring out false pride in place and blood ; 
Ring in the common love of good. 

SIXTH BELL. 
Ring out the slander and the spite, 
Ring in the love of truth and right. 

SEVENTH BELL. 

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold ; 
Ring out the thousand wars of old. 

EIGHTH BELL. 

Ring out old shapes of foul disea.se. 
Ring in the thousand years of peace. 

NINTH BELL. 
Ring in the valiant man and free. 

The larger heart, the kindlier hand ; 

Ring out the darkness of the land ; 
Ring in the Christ that is to be. 

The ninth bell bears also the following : ' ' This 

Chime the gift of Miss Jennie McGraw to the Cornell 

Univensity, 1868." The chimes are played from 7:45 

to 8 A. M. ; from i to 1 115 P. m., and from 5:45 to 6 p. m., 

on week days, and for fifteen minutes before each 

chapel service on Sundays. 



6o IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

Descending again from the tower, and leaving the 
building by the main entrance, the visitor should turn 
to the right and enter the south wing b\- the door lead- 
ing to the University Library. On the left of the hall- 
way a door opens into the large Geological lecture room, 
fitted with maps and charts, and a fine collection of 
rocks and minerals for illustrative purposes. A stair- 
case leads to the Laboratory of Geolog}- and Paleon- 
tology, which occupies the entire second floor of this 
wing. On the right an entrance, protected by heavy 
doors of iron, gives access to the main library. This 
occupies a room one hundred feet long by fifty wide, 
and twenty feet high, filling the entire ground floor of 
the central portion of the building. The books are 
arranged in alcoves, of which there are eleven on each 
side of the room. The central space is occupied parth- 
by rows of tables and chairs for readers, and partly by 
cases in which rare books and manuscripts are exhibited. 

The Library at present consists of about sixt\' thous- 
and volumes, and sixteen thousand pamphlets. It was 
started in 1868 by the purchase in Europe of some five 
thousand volumes. To this have since been added a num- 
ber of private libraries, including the Goldwin Smith His- 
torical Librar}', presented to the University in 1869, and 
a collection of Russian Folklore, presented b}- the Hon. 
Eugene Schuyler, in 1884. Between three and five 
thousand volumes are added ever>^ year by purchase. 

The library contains not a few treasures in the way 
of rare and beautiful specimens of the book-makers' art. 
Among them are a government copy of the Napoleon 



CORNELL. UNIVERSITY — LIBRARY. 6 1 

work on Egypt ; a complete series of the French ' ' Moni- 
teur ' ' from 1 789 ; a set of the lyondon ' ' Times, ' ' beginning 
with the year 1848, and a set of Piranesi's engravings 
of Roman antiquities and works of art, the copy pre- 
sented by Pope Clement, XIV., to the English Duke of 
Cumberland. The cases in the middle, well repay ex- 
amination. One contains a collection of incunabula, or 
cradle collection, comprising works printed before 1500. 
Many of the books are adorned with beautifully illumi- 
nated initials, and some are printed on vellum. The 
presses of Gutemberg, Zell, Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde, 
and many others, are represented. There are besides a 
number of black letter volumes, specimens of early Ameri- 
can printing, a book of autographs of Washington, 
Franklin and Lafayette, secured by the University at an 
expense of $1000, books with autographs from the private 
libraries of Eeigh Hunt, Daniel Webster, Rufus Choate 
and others, and books illustrated by the wood-cuts of 
Albrecht Durer and Holbein, with other specimens of 
early engraving. In other cases are several Japanese 
and Chinese books, some costly works printed in colors, 
specimens of the bindings of famous craftsmen, Sans- 
crit, Persian, Arabic, Hindustani and Ethiopic manu- 
scripts, several Eatin manuscripts on vellum, an unpub- 
lished German passion play of the fifteenth century, a 
collection of French Revolutionary money, together with 
the autographs of most of the Presidents of the United 
States. On the walls of the Eibrary are a number of 
paintings, among them being portraits of Mr. Cornell 
and Mr. McGraw, of Goldwin Smith, George William 



62 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

Curtis, James Russell lyOwell, and Louis Agassiz, who 
are, or have been, connected with the University, either 
as professors or lecturers ; and of Gerrit Smith, Pru- 
dence Crandall and Peter Cooper. Brackets along the 
alcoves support a number of busts, representing among 
others, Abraham Lincoln and President White. Ban- 
ners, pennants, and other trophies of Cornell's victories 
on the water and in other athletic contests, are sus- 
pended on all sides, while the cases support the various 
cups and other silver emblems won in a similar manner. 
In the north end of the Library' a door opens into a 
hallway leading to the Senior Reading Room, passing 
the rooms of the Librarian on the right, and the cata- 
loguing room on the left. In the west end of the Senior 
Reading Room is a plaster cast of the heroic statue of 
Augustus Caesar that was unearthed in Rome some 
years ago, creating a great sensation at the time. The 
cast was left as a memorial by the class of 1885. A 
portrait of Professor W. D. Wilson, a memorial from 
the class of 1883, and one of Professor C. C. Shackford, 
a memorial of the class of 1884, adorn the walls. Above 
the reading room is the Anatomical Lecture Room, below 
is the Anatomical Laborator>'. The visitor may leave 
the building by the entrance to the north wing, but 
before passing on should not fail to note the handsome 
drinking fountain directly in front of the middle en- 
trance. The fountain is made of Scotch granite and 
Italian marble, and cost four hundred dollars. It was 
placed as a memorial by the class of 1873. 



XX. 

THE PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL BUILDING. 

Following the stone walk, which leads past the 
McGraw Building and White Hall, northward, the 
visitor is brought to the Physical and Chemical build- 
ing, a handsome structure of red sandstone, adorned 
with medallions of distinguished scientists. The build- 
ing was first opened for occupancy in September 1883, 
and cost about $85,000. It is one hundred and forty 
feet in length, with a width of fifty and sevent}- feet, 
and is three stories high above a well-lighted basement. 
To one who is interested in the sciences to which the 
building is devoted, it presents attractions deserving of 
careful study, of which no adequate description could 
here be given, while to the ordinary observer the varied 
apparatus by which the forces of nature are held in 
submission within its walls seems little less than magical. 
Entering by the main entrance, a door immediately to 
the right gives access to a laboratory in the basement, 
which contains besides a large collection of electrical 
apparatus, a great dividing engine, the cost of which 
was about' $1800. It is one of the finest ever made, and 
is capable of ruling perfect lines on glass 30,000 or 
more to the inch, so fine as to be entirely invisible to 
the naked eye. In the rear of the laboratory are reser- 
voirs of oxygen, hydrogen compressed air, etc. , con- 
nected by pipes with various parts of the building. 



64 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

From the entrance a short flight of stairs gives access 
to the first floor, and a door to the right leads into the 
physical lecture room. This is a large room, with seats 
arranged in the form of an amphitheatre, capable of 
seating about one hundred and eighty students. The 
lecturer's desk is furnished with a solid pier for delicate 
experiments, with electrical connections b}- which anj^ 
force of current can be instantly turned on, with stop- 
cocks controlling supplies of oxygen and hydrogen, as 
well as blast and vacuum, a small turbine for running 
light machinery for experiments, and a handle connected 
with a water motor which raises heavy wooden shutters 
to darken the room for various purposes. A more per- 
fect equipment could hardl}- be imagined. The rooms 
to the rear of the lecture room and on the west side of 
the hall are occupied by the Phj-sical lyaborator}', 
and contain a great variety of interesting and valuable 
physical apparatus. The second floor of the building 
is occupied by the department of chemistr}' and miner- 
alogy. The room for blowpiping is on the west, fitted 
with tables covered with glazed porcelain, and a fine 
student's collection of minerals. The chemical lecture 
room is next east, similar in construction and con- 
venience of arrangement to the physical lecture room. 
From this room doors lead into the main hall, across 
which another hallway leads to the eastern end of the 
building to the mineralogical mviseum. Visitors not 
unfrequently fail to see this, not knowing where it is 
located. The museum contains the Silliman collection 
of minerals, and is rich in rare and beautiful specimens, 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY — PHYSICAL LABORATORY. 65 

which are arranged in handsome glass cases in most 
convenient form for exhibition. Part of the collection, 
including specimens of gold, silver, and diamonds, is 
kept in a safe in another building. The third floor of 
the building is entirely occupied by the chemical labora- 
tories and the private rooms of professors. The room 
for qualitative practice occup3dng the north side, has 
accommodations for one hundred students. The lab- 
oratory for quantitative practice is on the east end 
of the building, and has places for seventy students. 
Each place is provided with gas, reservoir and dis- 
tilled water, and suction for filtration, supplied by 
the air pump in the basement. Oxygen, hydrogen 
and blast are supplied in both rooms. There are besides, 
roortis for special experiments, a photographic labora- 
tory and weighing rooms. The rooms for assaying are 
in the north end of the basement, and are completely 
equipped with furnaces, crucibles, etc. 

The entire building is ventilated by a large fan in the 
basement, connected by flues with most of the rooms. 
Electricity is generated by dynamos in the basement, 
the power for this as well as for driving some light ma- 
chinery being furnished from Sibley College by an 
underground connection. On the rear of the main 
building a long one-story brick building has just been 
erected to be used as a laboratory for students in ap- 
plied chemistry, where the practical operations of chemi- 
cal manufacture will be illustrated. 



XXI. 

SIBLEY COLLEGE. 

Ea.st of the Physical and Chemical building- .stands 
Sibley College, facing south, and forming the northern 
boundary to the Campus proper. The main part is 
similar in material and st3-le of construction to the three 
main University buildings, and is one hundred and 
sixty feet long, forty feet wide and three stories high. 
Brick workshops enclose the three remaining sides of a 
quadrangle of which the main building forms the front. 
The college with its equipment is the gift of the Hon. 
Hiram Sibley of Rochester, New York. The first build- 
ing was erected in 1871, and in 1885 extensive additions, 
including the large workshops and an extension, were 
made, while at the same time the equipment was 
materiallj^ increased and the organization changed, so 
that to-day Sibley College ranks easily among the first 
of the technical schools of the country. The visitor to 
the college should enter by the east door, which leads 
him into a spacious hall, where a directory to the entire 
building is placed. A door on the right opens into a 
large lecture room, handsomely fitted with improved 
chairs with writing shelves attached for note-taking, 
and with a fine .selection of models and drawings of va- 
rious machines for purposes of illustration. From the 
main hall a stairway leads to the .second story, which 
contains another lecture room similar to the other, ad- 
joining which is the private room of the Director. On 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY — SIBLEY COLLEGE. 67 

the west are the various drawing rooms, and the third 
floor is also occupied with drawing rooms, and the 
private rooms of the instructors. On the left of the 
main hall a door opens into the rooms containing 
the museums and collections of the departments. The 
one first entered, the east museum, contains princi- 
pally a large number of samples of machines, made by 
the best makers, and many of them sectioned to show 
the precise manner of working. Passing through this, 
and crossing a narrow hall, the visitor enters the west 
museum, in the cases of which are exhibited the 
Schroeder models, illustrating the forms and proportions 
of various parts of machinery, and the construction of 
different machines. The museum also contains the 
Reuleaux collection of kinematic models, which is sup- 
posed to be the only complete collection on this conti- 
nent. A case on the east wall contains some inter- 
esting specimens of wood work done by students of 
the college. At the north side of the museum a door 
leads into a small annex, in which is located the dyna- 
mo that runs the University electric light system. A 
door on the left leads to the court and a few steps bring 
the visitor to the foundr>% equipped with an improved 
Colliau's cupola, and all the usual foundry appliances. 
Beyond this is the smithy, which contains ten forges of 
the most improved pattern. In a case on the wall 
are some vers- interesting specimens of ornamental 
forging executed b^' the instructor and students in this 
department. 

Adjoining the foundry on the east is the machine 



68 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

shop, equipped with lathes, planers, grinding, drilling, 
and milling machines, etc. Power is supplied from a 
turbine located at the bottom of the gorge on the north, 
two hundred feet below, the connection being by means 
of an endless cable. Next to the machine shop is the 
wood-working shop, of the same size and equally well 
equipped. Adjoining this is the mechanical laboratory, 
occupying the north-east corner. This is equipped with 
a variety of instruments of precision adapted for making 
every sort of test that the engineer is called upon to 
secure in the course of his practice. Passing through 
this, the visitor enters the modelling room, in which 
interesting specimens of modelling in clay bj^ students 
are usually to be seen. Rooms for the University Press, 
and apartments for the janitor occupy the remainder of 
the building. The circuit of the shops is now complete, 
and one of the most interesting parts of the institution 
that provides ' 'instruction in any study ' ' has demon- 
strated how thoroughly the University is fulfilling its 
purposes. 

After leaving Sibley College no visitor should fail to 
cross the road on the north and follow the walk along 
Fall Creek gorge eastward to Triphammer Fall. Just 
before reaching the fall a jutting rock gives one of the 
finest views of the ravine anywhere to be obtained. A 
little beyond Triphammer Fall there is a pleasant grove 
on the bank that is a favorite resort of picnic parties. 



XXII. 

THE ENGINEERING BUILDING, AND EAST SIDE OF 
CAMPUS. 

Adjoining the Sibley College on the east is a cottage 
owned by the University, next to which is a small un- 
pretentious structure in the country school-house style. 
This is known in the vernacular as the "copper house," 
for the reason that no iron is used in its construction. 
In it are placed the magnetometers, and instruments 
for accurate electrical measurements, among which is 
the mammoth tangent galvanometer, constructed at the 
University, having coils more than six feet in diameter. 
From this building a road passes south on the east side 
of the Campus, past an orchard of some extent, to a large 
wooden building, at present occupied by the Engineer- 
ing Department. The building was one of the first 
erected, and having been intended to serve temporary 
ends only, does not present any special merits of con- 
struction. The building contains a number of lecture 
and draughting rooms, private rooms for the professors 
of engineering, laboratories and museums. The latter 
contain a large collection of engineering models, and a 
complete collection of instruments of precision used in 
this profession, such as an astronomical transit, astro- 
nomical clocks, sextants, equatorials, a geodesic col- 
lection, and all the coarser field instruments. There 
is also a room for meteorological observations, fitted 
with self registering instruments. The observations 



yO IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

are taken daily, and the weather predictions indica- 
ted by a code of signals from the University signal 
station. A temporary astronomical observatory' has 
been erected in the rear of the building. A portion of 
the south wing is now occupied by the department of 
Veterinar>' Science, which is soon to be transferred to a 
new building erected for its especial use. 

In front of the Engineering Building is the base ball 
ground, the scene of many an exciting contest, and the 
windows of the building are a favorite resort for those 
desiring a safe vantage ground from which to witness 
the contests on the diamond. 

Before leaving the Campus, most \'isitors will be 
interested in \'isiting the farm buildings. These are 
reached by following a walk which leads directly back 
of the Engineering Building to East Avenue whence a 
road turns to the left leading directly to the main barn. 
On the right of the road just before it reaches the barn 
is a model dairy house, fitted with the most approved 
appliances for managing the products of the dairy. 
The bam itself is a large structure, a model of what a 
bam should be. To the south and east of the barn ex- 
tend the broad acres of the Universit}- Farm, on whose 
green slopes pasture cattle of the choicest breeds. Just 
north of the barn is the reservoir which furnishes an 
ample supply of water to the Campus and buildings. 
The water is pumped into the reservoir from the Fall 
Creek by automatic machinery. The view from its 
banks is one of the finest to be obtained from any point 
on the University grounds. 



XXIII. 

FINAL WORD. 

We have now gone somewhat in detail through the 
description of the Universitj^ deeming that such a 
description of the great State University of the Empire 
State might be both interesting and vahtable. There 
is more left unsaid than has been said, but that was 
inevitable. We have not de&med it wise to enter upon 
any description of the workings of the University, or 
any discussion of its methods. Persons desiring such 
information are referred to the University Register, 
which is sent free to anyone on application. 

Founded so wisely and so nobly, guided through the 
perils of its early days by .so wise a hand, Cornell seems 
to-day to be entering upon a period of steady prosperity 
and internal development. Since the inauguration of 
President Adams many beneficial changes have been 
made and the promises for the future are all bright. As 
the sun lights her Campus by day, and the electric 
arcs shed their brilliant rays over her paths by night, 
so Cornell University stands in the realm of knowledge, 
adding to the light, and scattering the darkness. 



XXIV. 

THE GORGES. 
FALL CREEK RAVINE. 

To an ardent lover of the picturesque in nature, the 
neighborhood of Ithaca supphes an ahnost inexhausti- 
ble fund of keen enjoyment. The lake and town lie in 
a depression in the midst of a rolling plateau ; the streams 
that take their rise in the surrounding territory flow 
quietly until they reach the valle^^'s edge, whence in a 
short space they descend four or five hundred feet to 
the level of the lake, through a series of remarkable 
glens or gorges abounding in deep pools, silvery cas- 
cades, and sylvan glades. Within a radius of twelve 
miles from Ithaca there are no less than thirty of these 
ravines, containing upwards of one hundred and fifty 
cascades, each of a beauty peculiar to itself. 

The most accessible and most frequented of the glens is 
the Ithaca Gorge — pre-eminently- ' ' The Gorge. ' ' It is in- 
disputably the most beautiful of them all. The visitor 
may, for a moment, be overwhelmed by the mighty 
leap of the Taughannock Fall, or carried away in 
admiration for the grand cascade of Enfield, but he will 
always revert to the beauties of Fall Creek with the feel- 
ing that it, after all is mo.st satisfactory. 

The ravine lies about three-fourths of a mile to the 
north-east of the centre of the village and forms the 
northern boundary of the University premises. The 




ITHACA FALI, — FALL CREKK. 



THE GORGES — PALI, CREEK RAVINE. 73 

Fall Creek which tears its way between the precipitous 
walls of this defile does not, as do most of the streams 
of the region, pour its waters into the sluggish Inlet, 
but after taking its last mighty plunge over the brink 
of the Ithaca Fall, it winds in a tranquil, romantic course 
through the leafy groves of the plain directly into the 
lake. 

It scarcely would be possible in the length of a mile 
to enclose by rocky walls a greater variety of beauty 
and grandeur. A traveller who visited the gorge in 
1820, says enthusiastically, "In the rocky substance of 
the highest part of the mountain a dismal gulf gaps 
dark and wide, and far within the shaggy cliff, steep 
after steep in six successive leaps. Fall River rolls its 
current downward to the plain. This is a tremendous 
scene which those who have had opportunity of com- 
paring with other remarkable places assert to be superior 
to all of them in the sublimest touches of nature. ' ' 

To reach the gorge it is necessary only to follow out 
Aurora street to the north. From the bridge by which 
the Auburn road crosses the creek is caught the first 
glimpse of the finest cascade of all, the Ithaca Fall. 
Next to Niagara, which it nearly equals in height, it is 
the largest cataract in the state. It surpasses in every 
respect the Trenton Falls, and the cascades of the Gene- 
see. Taughannock is higher, but for a great portion of 
the year its channel is nearly dry. 

Formerly it was almost impossible for the most daring 
climber to penetrate the gorge without rope and ladder, 
and the visitor had to rest content with viewing the 
' 'grandeur stored within the rocky battlements' ' from 



74 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

the dizz}' edges. About twenty ^-ears ago a secure 
pathway was hewn from the rocks along the northern 
wall. This path is entered through a toll gate just be- 
yond the bridge. The ascent is at first steep and 
tortuous ; a sharp tuni or two brings the visitor to a 
shady nook, "The Rest," from which the glory of the 
grand amphitheatre about and beneath him is disclosed. 
This colossal basin is enclosed by steeply sloping walls 
more than two hundred and fifty feet in height. The slopes 
are draped with verdvire and the crests crowned with 
nodding trees. The grandest feature of the view is the 
Ithaca Fall itself lying directly in front. The reft in 
the side of the amphitheatre by which the water enters 
seems choked by a mammoth rock eight>^-five feet across 
at the top, which, when dr}', gives the impression that 
a cascade of molten mineral had been suddenly hardened. 
The water, after flowing smoothly for some distance be- 
tween lofty parallel cliffs, reaches the edge of this mas- 
sive rock and plunges down the surface a hundred and 
fifty-six feet into the deep pool below. If the volume 
of water is great it is broken and beaten into a mass 
of seething foam, deafening in its thimder. When the 
water is low it trickles down in sparkling drops from 
shelf to shelf, festooning the brown rock with a veil of 
silvery spray. 

From "The Rest" the walk winds midway between 
the pool and the summit around the semi-circular walls, 
to a small plateau inclining toward the very brink of 
the fall. Ever}- point of this pathway affords magnifi- 
cent profiles of the cataract. From this place, the path 



THE GORGES — FALL CREEK RAVINE. 75 

winds back and forth on the naked face of the vertical 
cliff, by steep ascents and dangerous looking stone stair- 
ways to the summit of the "Palisades." During the 
hewing out of these steps, one of the workmen acci- 
dently fell, j-et without injury, nearly a hundred and fifty 
feet, bounding from crag to crag to the depths below. 
This event gained for the place the name of "Johnson's 
Tumble. ' ' The path leads along the edge of this preci- 
pice, known as the "Palisades" from the resemblance 
to the cliffs of that name on the Hudson. The dark 
water a hundred and twent}- feet beneath, flows placidly 
along in the shadows of the unscalable cliffs. The per- 
pendicular rock walls on both sides are seamed by verti- 
cal fissures which give the appearance of some immense 
ruined castle. From the north wall jut out two crags 
nearly split off", apparently ready to topple and fall 
crashing below. On one of these a rusty pine stands 
like a sentinel, grasping the rocks with its^talon-like 
roots as in terrified desperation. Beneath, fifty yards 
from the edge of the fall a dam turns the water into the 
black mouth of the tunnel, yawning at the foot of the 
columnar rocks opposite. This passage through the 
rock conveys the water power to the mills. Formerly 
and for many 3'ears the water was carried to the factories 
by a sluice way partly hewn into the wall. Traces of 
this conduit may still be seen. In 1830, Ezra Cornell, 
then in the employ of J. S. Beebe, owner of the mill at 
the foot of the ravine, undertook to excavate the pres- 
ent tunnel. With the aid of five men he accomplished 
the task in about six months. From this point, may 



76 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. ^ 

be caught glimpses of the red-tiled roof and turrets of 
the stately McGraw-Fiske mansion peeping through the 
pine}'- fringe of the castellated cliffs across the chasm. 

Passing through a grove the walk extends downward 
around the curve of a second amphitheatre, sometimes 
known as "Trouble Ba}-," to a little plateau directly 
above the second, or "Forest Fall," sixty feet in height, 
appropriately named from the densely wooded sides of 
the ravine. No word short of "magnificent" could 
characterize the view to the westward from this point. 
The deep green of the cedar-clad slopes of the foreground, 
the creamy foam of the fall beneath, the vertical cliffs 
of the "Palisades" almost meeting above the water, 
to make a great tube through which glorious vistas of 
the plains, the lake, and the hills beyond are obtained, 
fill one with a feeling little short of awe. 

The path now takes an upward bend and soon brings 
to view the third fall. This, although only thirty feet 
high, is ver>^ beautiful. The brink is shaped rudely 
like the letter V ; the water rushing toward the point 
and falling inwards toward the narrow re-entrant angle, 
is beaten into a boiling froth and justifies the title of 
' 'Foaming Fall. ' ' The steep banks are still clothed with 
a dense growth of cedars and hemlocks and crowned 
with groves of deciduous tree. 

Between the "Foaming Fall" and the fourth, or 
"Rocky Fall," the creek rushes along in a tumultuous 
torrent. The water at the latter cascade pours down 
fifty-five feet into a third amphitheatre bending towards 
the south. At this fall is the turbine which supplies the 




nil AK (,R.\W-FISKE MANSION. 



THE GORGES — FALL CREEK RAVINE. 77 

motive force to the Universit}^ machine shops on the 
edge of the woody precipice two hundred feet above. 
Over the stream a httle above the brink of the fall a 
swinging foot bridge is suspended on wires and connects 
with an interminable flight of wooden steps leading up 
the south side of the ravine to the University. From 
the bridge to the upper entrance of the gorge the creek 
quietly winds its romantic way under the shade of 
beetling cliffs and leafy bowers, and receives the name 
of "Sylvan Stream." The path is nearly at the water's 
level and follows parallel to the margin through grassy 
beds and forest shades. 

As the head of the glen is approached the overhang- 
ing cliffs again close in, then sweep around in another 
great amphitheatre. The south wall is smooth and verti- 
cal ; and from its crest here and there over-reaching 
crags project out above theaby.ss and afford unsurpassed 
points of observation. 

Through a narrow passage at the head of this 
"Coliseum," the entire waters of the stream pour over a 
shelf of rock in one unbroken fall, thirt3'-five feet in 
height. The gracefully curved walls of the amphitheatre 
reflect and redouble the thunderous rumble of the cas- 
cade until it becomes deafening. A heavy beating as 
of a mighty pulse, clearly distinguishable in the midst 
of the uproar, gives the cataract the name of ' 'Trip- 
hammer Fall." 

From the bed of the creek a spiral stairca.'je leads 
to the bank above. Until recently a bridge spanned 
the chasm over the crest of the fall. Above the Trip- 



78 IX AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

hammer, the gorge narrows to a few j^ards. Through it 
the water descends from the level surface of the ground 
above over a dam and down a series of cascades, in 
whose irregular rock-floors a number of remarkable pot- 
holes have been worn. The path to the University along 
the southern brink affords many fine views. The edges 
of the precipice for the entire length of the gorge are 
fringed \yith shagg}- groves. The volume of water in 
the stream never fails, and whenever the sun shines into 
its profound depths, the abyss is spanned by innumerable 
iris arches. 




IRII'IIAMMER FALI, — FAI.I, CKJUiK. 



XXV. 

CASCADILLA AND SIX MILE CREEK. 

After bursting from a wild, deep glen, which marks 
the southern boundary of the University Grounds, the 
Cascadilla Creek ripples through the village between 
willow fringed banks with a cheerful murmur, little sug- 
gestive of the lashings it has received in its downward 
rush from the eastern hills. The Cascadilla Gorge from 
the "Giant's Stairca.se" to where it opens into the plain, 
is a series of tremendous oblong amphitheatres, whose 
buttressed walls are festooned and richly decorated with 
dense masses of green. There are no large falls in this 
glen, but the bed of the stream is formed, to a great ex- 
tent of broad plates of rock, and the water merrily 
bounding from one ledge to another makes an almost 
continuous series of little cascades and justifies the poetic 
name of "Cascadilla. The "Giant's Staircase," the 
most important of these cascades, derives its name from 
the massive steps of rock over which the water tumbles 
forty-five feet, in a flood of spray. The iron bridge by 
which the roadway to the University crosses the gorge 
spans the ravine directly above this fall. The bridge 
furnishes the finest point of observation along the ra- 
vine.* The beauty and grandeur of the views obtained 
from the giddy pathway leading from the village along 

*See p. 41. 



8o IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

the edge of the precipice on the northern edge to the 
bridge is greatly marred b}- the mills, sheds, dams and 
rubbish heaps which do anything but add attractiveness. 

Above the bridge there is a sudden change in the 
character of the ravine. It is no longer a gorge with 
awful steeps, but a sylvan glade. The stream is no 
longer furiously dashed into foam, but it purls along 
over its moss-grown bed with a cherry song, through a 
thicket of trees whose branches meeting over the shining 
water in a leafy archway, shut out the fierce beams of 
the sun, and make the spot one of soft and gentle 
loveliness. 

The most important tributary to the Inlet Creek is 
the Six Mile Creek, which descending from the hills 
through a long, low ravine, circles around the base of 
South Hill and the southern part of the village. In the 
town it is shallow and broad, and during freshets and 
the icy season has often overflowed its banks causing 
considerable damage to neighboring property. 

In comparison with the other streams Six Mile Creek 
possesses few attractions to the lover of the sublime, 3'et 
is by no means destitute of beauty. Ivong reaches of 
rather commonplace scener}^ (for Ithaca) b}- contrast 
enhance the beauty of the .several points of interest 
which are unfolded at intervals. The beauty and grace 
of the glen is best seen by following up the bed of the 
channel at rather low water. High water would make 
it inaccessible. Along the lower part of the course 
much of the attractiveness has been destroyed by cut- 
ting away the trees leaving only the ugly stumps. A 



CASCADILLA AND SIX MILE CREEK. 8 1 

half mile or more from the Aurora street bridge just 
below a none too picturesque mill, the water plunges in 
two leaps of twenty feet each over exceedingly irregular 
moss-grown ledges into a mammoth pot-hole from which 
the cascade takes the name of ' 'Well Falls. ' ' The tree- 
clad walls of the amphitheatre into which the stream 
pours, rise a hundred feet in a S3'mmetrical curve. For 
three-fourths of a mile above the mill dam the rivulet 
winds and twists about in a serpentine course under the 
shade of a superb grove. 

The "Narrows" is a savage chasm whose nearly ver- 
tical walls, eighty-five feet in height, resemble tiers of 
well-laid masonry. The wildness of the place is softened 
by a few trees growing from the pavement. Between 
this glen and the ' 'Green Tree Fall, ' ' high banks shaggy 
with brushwood and trees confine the channel. The 
"Green Tree Fall," twenty-five feet in height, is re- 
markable for its curious formation. The sharp, ragged 
rocks down which the water splashes in sparkling spray, 
present the appearance of having once been a row of 
great pot-holes that had been cut vertically across the 
stream, and the lower part torn awa^'. The cliffs about 
the fall are over sixty feet high. Above the fall the 
water ripples through a wild ravine containing the 
usual variety of miniature cascades, shaded pools 
and water-worn rocks. Above this, the creek wan- 
ders through broad cultivated fields. "High Fall," 
is a rarely visited cascade of sixty-five feet, on a small 
tributary of Six Mile Creek, ten miles from Ithaca. 



XXVI. 

BUTTERMII^K GORGE. 

While it i.s generally agreed that the Fall Creek 
Gorge far surpa.sses all others in the extent of the 
grandeur, beauty, and variety of its scenery, there is a 
great difference of opinion as to which should occupy 
the second place. Among the contestants for this fair 
honor is Buttermilk Ravine. A trip to this romantic 
glen is best made by going two miles down the Newfield 
Valley on the level road leading out from Ca}- uga street, 
and winding along the base of South Hill until the 
gorge is reached, and returning by the road which 
crosses a small bridge spanning the upper end of the 
ravine. 

The yawning mouth of the gorge down from whose 
dark depths a mountain torrent comes rushing, bursts 
suddenly upon the view. Follow up a path a few rods 
along the south side of the bed of the creek, past the 
remains of an old saw mill, to the foot of the first and 
grandest fall. From the whiteness of the foaming wa- 
ter it is aptly named " Buttermilk Fall." The sloping 
face of the rock down which the glistening foam de- 
scends, is a moderate!)^ steep flight of shah' stairs over- 
grown with green moss and gray lichens, and honey- 
combed with pot-holes. Its crest is a hundred feet above 
the plain, and the slope, eas}- of ascent to the average 
climber, measures three hundred and fifty feet. A little 



BUTTERMILK GORGE. 83 

way back from the brink of this great fall, the water is 
whipped into spray down the ragged slope of a second 
cascade ninety feet high, somewhat steeper, but pre- 
senting no great obstacle to the scaler. A short dis- 
tance back from the top of this cascade, rises the lofty 
wall of the dam which collects the water for supplying 
the village water works, two miles away. Here the 
gulf widens out and rugged cliffs tower up on each side 
and curve around in a monstrous bowl. Out from a 
dismal cleft right in front, the water comes trickling 
down, a lace-like fringe, draping the front of a semi-cir- 
cular, bulging rock which seems to choke the mouth of 
the cavernous defile. Bj^ some stretch of the imagina- 
tions this has been thought to resemble a pulpit, and 
accordingly received the name of "Pulpit Rock." 
This rock, the central object of interest in the gorge, 
may be reached by clambering up the hillside from the 
plateau, on the south margin, just at the point of the 
dam, and some rods further on descending a break-neck 
path into the narrow, glen, and carefully picking 
the way toward the front along a dangerous ledge 
of shale. The narrow, flume-like passage is one of the 
most weirdly fantastic spots of the region. The water 
has worn innumerable pot-holes and carved tracery on 
the dark walls ; the rocky overhanging crags seem al- 
most to meet overhead ; the green roof-curtain of inter- 
lacing branches stretched across seventy feet above 
forbids the entrance of the sunbeams, and makes a re- 
freshing coolness. Just above a sharp turn in this 
natural tunnel, and nearly at its head, is a perpendic- 



84 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

iilar fall of twenty feet, whose full rich tones are re- 
echoed and varied by the sounding boards of rock. 
From this place at low water, the entire length of the 
creek may be traversed along its bed. Standing on the 
top of the last-mentioned fall, and looking up the 
stream, an exquisite series of six picturesque cascades, 
one above the other, is seen splashing in the sunlight. 
Their aggregate height is sixty feet. Two others of 
eight feet each, are just out of sight around a little turn. 
Pot-holes and water worn rocks abound in profusion in 
the sides and floors, all of them curious, man}- of them 
beautiful. 

Above these the banks are low, and the few exposed 
rocks look like decayed masonry. The woods come 
down to the water's edge, and the stream ripples se- 
renely along under a leafy tunnel, over a pavement of 
level plates of stone. After an abrupt bend the banks 
suddenly rise more than a hundred feet above, and a 
rare cascade of twenty-five feet blocks the way, while 
the creek broadens until it nearly fills the bottom of the 
ravine. Just above the fall there towers a curiously 
bent, tapering column of stone, gray with lichens, and 
draped with graceful clinging vines and festooned about 
its base with ferns. The horizontal layers projecting 
here and there furnish foot-holds for a daring and skill- 
ful climber. This is known variously, as the ' ' Chim- 
ney," the "Steeple," or as "Monument Rock." On 
the opposite side an incomplete companion column rises 
a few yards. Above these pillars are several pretty cas- 
cades, all of them accompanied by the inevitable pot- 
holes, of all sizes, and in all stages of formation. 



BUTTERMILK GORGE. 85 

Not far above these the road bridge marks the end of 
Buttermilk Gorge. Beyond the bridge the creek mean- 
ders tranquilly through farming lands. The road which 
crosses the bridge leads back to Ithaca, along the ridge 
of South Hill, by a route which furnishes magnificent 
pictures of the lake and valley. 



XXVII. 

LICK BROOK. 

Most people, even in Ithaca, know of Lick Brook only 
vaguely by name. This glen is the wildest and most 
easily-traversed of the many wonderful gorges at the 
head of Cayuga Lake. Its beauties are so unique and 
so different from those of the others as not to admit of 
comparison with them. No trouble undertaken to visit 
it would be too dear a price to pay for a sight of its 
unique grandeur. 

Lick Brook is a small stream furrowing the west 
slope of South Hill, a mile and a half be)'ond Buttermilk. 
It is best reached by following out Cayuga street three 
miles and a half to the south until a house of an almost 
infinite number of gables is passed. Turn to the left 
down a semi-private road through the barn-yard of the 
many-gabled house ; the road soon divides, keep to the 
left fork until the Inlet Creek is reached. Tie your 
horse to the bushes, and cross the Inlet by a crazy foot 
bridge at the place where the Lick Brook flows in. 
Cross the railroad and walk along the north bank of the 
little creek close to the edge ; in a few minutes the first 
or ' ' Veiled Fall ' ' is seen gleaming white through the 
interstices of the screen of trees which partly conceal it. 
The mossy rock down which the water glides is sixt}- 
feet high, nearly vertical. An unobstructed view of the 
fall is obtained only from the bed of the creek. 

A few rods to the north of the creek a broad, but 



LICK BROOK. 87 

steep path leads up the hillside to the brink of the 
gorge directly above the second fall, in all respects simi- 
lar to the first, save in size. From this eminence the 
descent to the channel of the brook is gentle. The view 
looking up the ravine contains nothing of the majestic ; 
it is a charming vista of loveliness. The mossy velvet of 
the banks is covered with masses of feathery fern and 
delicate wild flowers. The sunlight sifting down through 
the intertwining leaves far above, dispels all gloominess. 
The coolness throughout the glen, even on the hottest 
days, is delicious. Walk up the delightful hollow over 
the shale ledges of the miniature cascades, and you 
come suddenly upon a wonderful crevice fissuring the 
south wall. The rocks nearly meet fifty feet overhead. 
Its stony bottom slopes inward and upward at a sharp 
angle for seventy feet. Eagle Cavern is the name given 
to it. Just beyond this tremendous cleft the walls sud- 
denly rise to a height of a hundred and sixty feet, and 
bend away in the form of a mighty amphitheatre. The 
sides slope backward for eighty feet, then rise perpen- 
dicularly for eighty feet more. The incline is carpeted 
with delicate forest plants, and magnificent forest trees 
rise in tiers wherever they can gain a precarious hold. 
The glen again narrows and bends around at a right 
angle ; the dark gray shaded rocks over whose shelves the 
water descends in a series of little falls give the name of 
Dark Cascade. Savage cliffs overhang the well-like 
amphitheatre into which the passage of the Dark Cas- 
cade opens. Around another sharp corner, over a gently 
sloping floor, as regularly seamed and jointed as a pave- 
ment, lies the way to the final and grandest scene of all. 



88 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

The narrow entrance to this stupendous, chamber is 
guarded by two funnel-shaped pillars, one on either 
side. Once past the rocky portal, and an exclamation 
of astonishment cannot be repressed. You are in 
a tremendous oblong bowl, entirely surrounded sa\-e 
for the crevice through which admission is gained. 
The curved rock walls are vertical and overhang. At 
its remotest end a strange rock formation leans against 
the smooth wall of the perpendicular cliff. This has 
been compared to the half of a haystack. Directly 
above this the water of the creek comes rushing down 
a short inclined and moss-lined channel, takes a head- 
long leap clear of the brink, and is dashed in spray 
on the conical rock a hundred and forty feet be- 
low. The gray and lofty walls ; the massy columns at 
the door ; the overhanging roof a hundred and sixty 
feet above ; the azure canopy; the eastward altar, luuig 
with its adornments of velvet moss ; the richly blending 
colors ; the profound peace, broken only by the sweet, 
solemn chant of the mist-robed choir, mingled with the 
deep-toned accompaniment of the wind-swept evergreens 
fringing the crests, make the grandeur of the scene sol- 
emnly impressive. No name could be more appropriate 
than "The Cathedral." 

If the visitor has come thus far, he will not need to 
be told to turn around and go back. The vertical cliffs 
surrounding him do not offer the faintest suggestion of 
any passage over them. It is possible, of course, to go 
back and follow up the ravine on the bank ; but ha\ing 
shown you its grand cathedral, Lick Brook has given 
you its best. 




I.UCIFKR FALL — KNFIPCLD. 



XXVIII. 

ENFIELD GORGE. 

Next to the Fall Creek Gorge, the Enfield Glen is 
most frequented by visitors. It is inferior in man}^ re- 
spects to the former, whose wonders it repeats with vari- 
ation. The head of the gorge is between six and seven 
miles from Ithaca, and is reached by driving out, either 
on Cayuga street, or along the street at the foot of West 
Hill, for both roads unite three miles from town. A 
guide-board at a division of the road, just before reach- 
ing the house of many gables, points to the right-hand 
fork. Follow this past a little bridge, and up the hill 
for two miles. Just beyond a white school-house, turn 
to the left down a steep pitch into the little village of 
Enfield Falls. The small, neatly kept hotel down a 
green lane to the left, will provide you with a dinner or 
lunch, upon which the most fastidious could not fail to 
pass emphatic approval. The entrance to the gorge lies at 
the end of a path leading from the hotel. The expense 
of keeping the road through the glen in order is de- 
frayed by a toll of ten cents on each visitor. The beau- 
tiful valley from which the ravine opens, was evidently 
the bed of an ancient lake. The creek cuts squarely 
through the hill by a narrow cleft, the portal of which 
is flanked by massive door posts of rock. The an- 
gular joints and horizontal strata confirm the impres- 
sion that the long passage-way had been hewn out and 
walled up by skillful masons of ages ago. The shelving 



90 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

layers of harder rock make an excellent flooring for the 
pathway. A .short distance within the defile in the cliff 
on the right, is a small chamber curiously hollowed out 
by nature to resemble a huge old-fashioned square fire- 
place, capable of concealing a half dozen people within 
its cavernous recess. The water twelve feet below you 
rippling over the low ledges makes a number of pretty 
little cascades, whirls around eddying pools in the 
curious pot-holes, and at last enters a wonderful flume, 
long, deep, straight and smooth, not more than twenty 
inches in width, down which it shoots with arrow swift- 
ness. Twenty feet above this strange channel a bridge 
spans the gorge, and for the remainder of the distance 
the path follows the left margin of the stream. A sharp 
turn and a steep descent bring you into a great basin 
in whose bottom has been hollowed a mammoth pot- 
hole, the Bath-tub of Lucifer, to which the boiling water 
is brought by the conduit above mentioned. The walls 
of this amphitheatre are fissured, and partly co\-ered by 
scanty bushes and stunted trees. 

Another turn and another descent bring you to the 
brink of a noble flight of rocky stairs down whose ledges 
the water tumbles in a mass of frothy whiteness into a 
second grand chamber. The level floor of this vast 
room is one great .sheet of rock, surrounded by vertical 
walls towering sublimely a hundred feet. This .square 
saloon was thought by some imaginative person to be 
worthy of the uses of His Satanic Majesty and was ac- 
cordingly named "Lucifer's Kitchen." 

From this Mephistophelian bake house follow the 
narrow path around the ba.se of a majestic promontory 



ENFIELD GORGE. QI 

which conceals the grandeur yet to be disclosed, and 
you suddenly shrink back in amazement at the sight 
before 5^ou. You are on the ver^' brink of a might>' 
precipice over which the creek pours its waters to break 
in foam on jutting rocks, and finally to take a final 
desperate plunge into a great basin a hundred and forty 
feet below. This is lyucifer Fall. Whether dyspepsia 
or theology is to blame for the satanic names attached 
to the most interesting points in Enfield Ravine is a 
point that is not quite clear. From the brink of the 
fall the path descends by a flight of wooden steps, hugs 
the face of the cliff for a way and then crosses a rickety 
bridge to a jutting buttress that commands a fine view 
of the fall. You stand directly facing the first leap of 
the fall and gazing down, not without a shudder, into 
the abyss below. From this point the path descends 
rapidly to the bottom of the ravine. Where the path 
ends the stream can generally be crossed to the opposite 
side, from which is obtained the most impressive view 
of the entire fall. The tree crowned cliffs appear al- 
most to meet two hundred and sevent}^ feet above. In 
front the water climbs to meet the clouds. The fall is 
not one smooth leap, but is considerably broken. In 
low water the fall is really four separate cascades, but 
when the stream is swollen, the water comes over in 
one unbroken mass, disregarding all small impediments. 
This is the culmination of the scenery in Enfield Ra- 
vine. Few visitors care to go further. For two miles 
below, the scener^^ is that of an ordinary pretty glen, 
but there is no path, and one hardly feels repaid for the 
rough climb in making the trip. 



XXIX. 

ON THE SHORES OF CAYUGA. 

The fair sheet of water that bears the poetic name of 
Cayuga, contributes its full share toward the variety and 
charm of the scenef-y surrounding Ithaca. One of the 
great chain of lakes that form so striking a feature of 
the geography of Central New York, Seneca Lake 
alone ventures to dispute its title to the crown of 
the series. For thirty-eight miles does the lake wind its 
way northward from Ithaca to Ca}'uga Bridge, varying 
in width from a little over one mile to nearly four, and 
in some places attaining a depth of some four hundred 
feet. The scener}' along its shores is varied and inter- 
esting. In one place perpendicular cliffs rise abruptly 
from the very edge of the lake. Again, smooth hills 
slope back in gracefvil undulations, adorned with pleas- 
ant countr}' homes. At frequent intervals streams of 
greater or less size flow in, usualh- falling over se\-eral 
pretty cascades just at the lake's brink. Summer hotels 
and private cottages seem to line the banks. The Cayu- 
ga lake boats leave Ithaca at 7 a. m., reach Cayuga 
Bridge about 10:30 to connect with the train on the 
New York Central Railroad, and returning, reach Itha- 
ca at three in the afternoon. To one in search of a day of 
quiet enjoyment, nothing could be suggested in ever}- 
wa}' more satisfactory than this trip on a pleasant sum- 
mer day. No matter how warm the day, the lake is al- 
ways cool. The dark blue water, clear and pure, wells 



ON THE BORDERS OF CAYUGA. 93 

up from deep springs that know not summer sun. The 
constant change in the scenery, the bustle at the various 
Httle landings, clear sky and pure air, all combine to 
furnish the keenest enjojaiient and gratification. 

On the east shore of the lake, some three miles from 
Ithaca, begins a series of palisade-like cliffs, presenting 
a peculiar and interesting jointed formation of the rocks. 
No better specimen of this structure exists anywhere, 
and Prof. Dana in his manual of Geology has presented 
an illustration of these rocks to show this formation. 
The Ca3'Uga Lake Railroad runs along just at the base 
of these cliffs. This road follows the edge of the lake 
for its entire length. In winter storms, the water is not 
infrequentl}' blown across the track, and freezing there, 
makes the road impassible. Burdick's Glen, Shurger's 
Ravine, and the lyudlowville Gorge, all join the lake be- 
tween Ithaca and Ludlowville, a distance of some seven 
miles. On the west bank of the lake pretty summer 
cottages dot the wooded banks as far as Glenwood, 
three miles. Glenwood occupies a little point that juts 
out into the lake, and is fitted up with many conveni- 
ences for the transient visitor. No one who visits it on 
a summer afternoon or evening, can doubt its popularity. 
A short distance beyond Glenwood a long narrow point 
runs out into the lake. This is Crowbar Point, the 
same that appears to shut off the view to one looking 
down the lake from Ithaca. Beyond this point the lake 
bends quite sharply to the westward. Some four miles 
bej-ond, Taughannock landing is reached, where a low 
peninsula has been built out some distance into the lake 



94 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

by the materials which the stream has brought down 
from the rocky hills. 

About halfway between Crowbar Point and Taug- 
hannock, Tower Rock stands out boldly from the shore. 
In structure this resembles somewhat the well-known 
Steeple Rock of Buttermilk ravine. At Taughannock 
the TuUy limestone first crops out. As the dip of this 
stratum is toward the south, it gradually rises higher 
and higher above the lake as we proceed northward, 
and every little stream that comes into the lake takes 
its final plunge over this limestone ledge, whose hard- 
ness resists all erosive effects. Frequenth* the softer 
strata under the limestone have crumbled away under 
the action of the water, forming fantastic recesses. Some 
fifteen miles down the lake are Kidder's Ferry, and, a 
little beyond. Sheldrake, both popular summer resorts. 
Aurora, on the opposite side, is a charming village, the 
seat of Wells College and of the Cayuga Lake Military 
Academy. Some miles beyond Aurora is Union Springs, 
noted especially for its plaster. The geological structure 
around this village presents many points of interest to 
the student. The lower end of the lake at the outlet 
is a great marsh. In addition to the passenger traffic 
on the lake, which is ver>' considerable during the sea- 
son, there is a large freight traffic especially in coal, 
carried on b}- means of canal boats. The Lehigh Val- 
ley R. R. brings the coal from the Pennsylvania coal 
fields to Ithaca, where it is loaded in canal boats ready 
to be taken to any place that is reached b}- the great 
canal system of the state. 




TAUC, 1 1 A N N ( tC K FALL. 



XXX. 

TAUGHANNOCK. 

No other place on Cayuga's shores is deservedly so 
famous as Taughannock Fall. Poets have sung its 
beauty, travelers have rhapsodized over its grandeur and 
sublimity, and commonplace people have declared that 
it was very nice. It is better known as a resort than 
any other place in the vicinity, as it is more convenient 
of access from the centres of population, being on a 
branch of the Lehigh Valley. Travelers from a distance 
generally come to Taughannock by this railroad, but 
no \'isitor from Ithaca should do so. If an e "ly morn- 
ing start is not too grave an objection, the route by the 
steamboat is in every way delightful. The boat leaves 
the dock about 7 a. m., reaching Taughannock in about 
an hour. Returning it leaves the landing about 2 p. 
m. . giving ample time for a visit to the fall. In case a 
congenial party can be made up, nothing is pleasanter 
than to charter a steam yacht for the day, as the com- 
pany can then go and come at their own convenience. 

Let us suppose that we start from the steamboat land- 
ing, no matter how we have arrived there. The road 
leads up the hill a little way, and then branches, one 
branch turning to the right along the lake shore, the 
other going straight on up the hill. Both ways are the 
road to Taughannock, but as we cannot go both ways 
at once, let us try the right hand road. This presently 



96 IX AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

brings us to a bridge over the Taughaniiock stream, here 
broad and shallow. Again the question arises, shall we 
follow up the bed of the stream, or continue along the 
road. We ought to do both, and the best advice that 
can be given is to go twice, and w^hichever route \'ou 
chose on 3-our first visit, choose the other on your 
second. This time, however, we will continue our 
course along the road be3-ond the bridge, soon turning 
to the left, and ascending a steep hill. After climbing 
a considerable way we come at last to a pretty little 
rustic hotel, with pleasant grounds surrounding. The 
hotel stands almost on the very edge of the ravine, along 
the bank of which seats are placed that command a 
fine view of the Fall, and the amphitheatre below. 
Tarry here awhile, if you can, for although the distance 
diminishes the impressiveness of the Fall itself, the 
scene is none the less stately and full of beauty. But 
presently seek out the staircase that leads to the bottom 
of the ravine, and go down, down till j-ou feel sure there 
are no deeper depths. Then follow up the bed of the 
stream, along a pathless path, till you .stand in the 
clearing before ' 'The Great Fall in the Woods. ' ' Round 
about you on either side the rock rises three hundred 
and fifty feet almost perpendicular. Just in front, the 
cliffs are broken, and the Bridal Veil of Taughannock is 
hung down from the cleft to cover the bare face of the 
rocks. The water falls in one sheer perpendicular leap 
two hundred and fifteen feet. At most seasons of the 
year it is for the most part dissipated into a silvery 
spray long before reaching the bottom, really onh* a 



TAUGHANNOCK. 97 

veil through which ghmpses of the cliff behind may be 
caught. The fall is symmetrical in outline, and possesses 
a regularity and perfectness not found in any of the 
other cascades of the region. Before leaving, come up 
close to the fall, no matter if it may sprinkle 3'ou a little, 
and stand quiet a moment till the spell of the silent 
water falling from its majestic height comes over you, 
as it surely will. The feeling is indescribable. If you 
please you can now retrace your steps a little waj^ down 
the glen and find a pathway leading up the opposite 
side from that on which you descended. It is steep, 
arduous, and the steps are many before the top is reached. 
But it is worth while to make the effort to climb out on 
one side or the other, for otherwise "some of the finest 
views would be missed. Let us go back this time to the 
little hotel whence we started, in order that our ex- 
ploration may have some continuity. From the hotel 
we can now see more than we could before, and can 
better appreciate the scene. Calling on the imagination 
for a little aid, perhaps you will be able to make out 
the figure of "The Maid of the Mist," sitting pensively 
behind the fall, her head turned from it and bent down 
as though in deep thought. Bej-ond the hotel, we 
must follow the road for some little distance, occasionally 
turning aside to the brink of the ravine to catch the 
changing views, until presently a somewhat dilapidated 
booth with a still more dilapidated turnstile on one cor- 
ner, marks for you the beginning of the path that will 
lead you to the bed of the creek above the fall. Al- 
though you are only going above the fall, still the 



98 IX AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

descent is nearh- a hundred and fifty feet, and is full of 
striking features. A rustic bridge crosses the stream a 
little way above the Fall. The view up the stream is 
charming, and though few visitors ascend the gorge 
above the main fall, the beauties of the upper ravine 
well repay those who do for their labor. From the 
bridge a path leads up the bank on the opposite side. 
But follow the edge of the stream for a distance, before 
ascending the path. Just beyond the brink of the Fall 
a broad shelf of rock se\'eral feet wide extends for some 
thirty or fort}- feet under the brow of the cliff. From 
this is disclosed the most impressive sight of all. From 
the shelf you cannot see the bottom of the ravine im- 
mediateh' in front of j'ou, and you seem therefore to be 
suspended in mid-air. Right by your side the water 
slides quietly off the edge of the cliff, and one can hardly 
realize that it is taking such a tremendous plunge in so 
quiet a manner. Looking directly across the vast am- 
phitheatre, you gain some adequate conception of its 
magnitude. From cliff to cliff in the widest part is 
more than six hundred feet. The views down the ra- 
vine toward the lake add their own exquisite portion to 
complete the majesty and beauty of the view. 

You may now return to the path, and follow it through 
well-kept grounds, furnished with pleasant arbors and 
comfortable seats along the south brink of the ravine. 
Lookouts here and there command fine prospects of the 
Fall and surroundings. To the right is a half public 
house, where refreshment may be sought if needed. 
Beyond this, the path soon joins the road, which winds 



TAUGHANNOCK. 99 

picturesquely down the hill giving most delightful pros- 
pects of the lake and valley at every turn. At the foot 
of the hill we come to the fork where we decided to go 
the other way, and continue to the landing with the re- 
solve to come again soon, and make the trip the other 
way first. 



XXXI. 

MORE RAVINES STILL. 

Those ravines that present the most striking features 
and most often attract the notice of the tourist or pleas- 
ure seeker have now been described, together with at least 
one good way to reach each of them. But there are many 
more that in an}' region less richly favored than Ithaca, 
would be esteemed worthy of the most elaborate descrip- 
tion. Such a one is Coy's Glen or the Artist's Ravine, 
in the side of West Hill a mile below the Depot. It is 
full of delightful nooks, and is a favorite resort for tho.se 
who seek the early blooming arbutus in the first fra- 
grance of spring. At Ludlowville, also, the Ludlow- 
ville Falls, and the Indian Falls awaken an enthusias- 
tic appreciation of their beauties in eveiy visitor. Bur- 
dick's Glen and Shurger's Ravine on the east .shore of 
the lake, nearer than Ludlowville, reward the tourist 
richly. At Trumansburg Landing, a mile and a half 
north of Taughannock, a large stream empties into the 
lake upon which are two superb falls, a hundred, and 
a hundred and fifty feet in height. 

At the other end of our territory, .some seven miles 
down the Inlet valley, the Newfield Ravine and the so- 
called West Branch, afford .scenes which are .said to rival 
anything the Lake countr}- can present. Every little 
stream conforms to the general structure of thecountr}% 
and in so doing makes itself as beautiful as it can. 



XXXII. 

THE DRIVES. 

In directing the visitor how to reach the various ra- 
vines that have been described, some of the finest of 
the many fine drives about Ithaca have been incidently 
touched upon. While it will not be possible to give de- 
tailed directions for guiding a horse and carriage through 
the countr>', it ma}' not be inappropriate to mention a 
few^ of the drives that are the most attractive. Among 
these that to Ludlowville along the lake road, well de- 
serv^es mention. The road is simply a continuation of 
Aurora street to the north, crossing Fall Creek right in 
front of the great Ithaca Fall, and running along the 
edge of the lake some distance, and then rising in a 
slope that commands magnificent views of the lake be- 
low\ The road passes through Libertyville, better 
known as Rogue's Harbor, and again descends to Lud- 
lowville. The entire distance is nearly ten miles. The 
drive on the opposite side of the lake to Trumansburg 
is equally beautiful and even more popular. The road 
ascends the hill beyond the depots on the west of the 
valley in a long, gradual slope, commanding a grand 
view of the Lake almost all the way, and then runs 
along the crest of the hill through an interesting countr}* 
twelve miles to Trumansburg. This is a favorite route 
for sleigh-riding parties. The drives up the valley to 
the south have already been dwelt upon. One of the 



r02 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

pleasantest drives in the region is that to Varna or 
Etna. The traveller should take the road that leads 
through the University Grounds ; thewce the road leads 
eastward through a forest road along the brink of Fall 
Creek Ra\nne to Forest Home, a pretty little hamlet of 
decidedly rural aspect. Keep the right hand road, 
which presently crosses a bridge, and winds for some 
distance along the very edge of the picturesque stream. 
Nothing could be more delightful than this part of the 
drive. The scenery beyond is varied and interesting. 
The little village of Varna is some two miles beyond For- 
est Home, and Etna, a somewhat larger small place, is 
about four miles fiu-ther. 



XXXIII. 

IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

How to get into Ithaca, and how to get out again, 
are questions often asked, and not always easily an- 
swered. The town is peculiarly situated as regards its 
connections with the outside world. No great trunk 
line strikes it, and no less than four small railroads do. 
The steamboat line makes a fifth means of ingress and 
egress. 

Ithaca can be reached by the New York Central, the 
Erie, the Delaware & Lackawanna, and the I^ehigh 
Valley railroads. The traveler on the New York Cen- 
tral, will leave the train at Canastota, and take the El- 
mira, Cortland & Northern [E.C.& N.] road, if coming 
from the east ; if coming from the west, he should leave 
the Central at Lyons, and take the Geneva, Ithaca & 
Sayre [G.I.&S.] road, the latter being now controlled 
by the Lehigh Valley. The trains of the Cayuga Lake 
road connect with the old branch of the Central at 
Cayuga Bridge, making still another route. The trav- 
eler on the Erie, if from the east, will leave it at 
Owego, to take the Cayuga branch of the D. L- & W. 
If from the west, he may take the E. C. & N. at 
Elmira. The directions for one traveling by the D. L. 
and W. , are similar to those for an Erie traveler. Trav- 
elers by the Lehigh Valley, change at Sayre to the G. 
I. &S. , in the day ; at night a through sleeper leaves Jer- 



2 9'^ 



104 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 

sey Cit}^ for Ithaca. In Ithaca the depots of the G. I. 
& S., the Cayuga Lake road, and the D. L. & W., 
are all in the extreme western part of the village, at the 
foot of West Hill. The two former roads occupy the 
depot farther west together ; the latter road has the 
eastern depot. The depot of the E. C. & N. road is 
on the summit of East Hill, a mile and a half from the 
centre of the village. Lines of stages run to all the 
depots. The steamboat landing is on the Inlet at the 
foot of Cayuga Street. Time tables change so that 
their insertion here would be more likely to do evil than 
good. All the roads have ticket offices in the centre of 
the village where full information may be obtained. 




